The Paragon of Remnant
by RoyalMD
Summary: Corona has affected my ability to write. Story is on hold.
1. Prologue

**Hey guys RoyalMD here long time FanFic reader and RWBY fan, I've seen a lot of gamer fics over time so this is my take on it. I'm an avid writer and enjoy reading so please read, review and follow if you so wish!**

**! WARNING ! there is a lot of angst and pain in this story and the S/I is very closely resembles my younger life almost everything in this chapter happened to me. So once again! Please read, review and follow now…**

**ON WITH THE STORY!**

* * *

"Matt get up and do some fucking work!"

"Shut up sis Jesus Christ I've finished my goddamn work!"

"Well do some damn revision or something! You're behind on your work!"

"Why don't you piss off and mind your own business?" I yell back at my sister slamming the door behind me, I sigh deeply as sit at my desk and think back over the fourth yelling match of the day I've had school only finished a week ago and I'm already sick of writing essays for subjects I don't care about.

I open my computer and decide I needed to relax, I'm sick of work for now and if my sister doesn't like it well that's her problem isn't it? As I open up Spotify and put on my headphones, I can hear my dad and mum in their room yelling at each other

"I WASN'T THE ONE WHO RAISED HIM THAT WAS YOUR JOB I WAS OUT WORKING TEN HOURS A DAY TO PROVIDE FOR THIS FAMILY INSTEAD YOU LEFT IT ALL TO THE FUCKING MAIDS AND THE KIDS, YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT SUBJECTS HE'S DOING!"

"MAYBE IF YOU DIDN'T ALWAYS KEEP ME OUT OF THE LOOP ABOUT HIS FAILING SUBJECTS, WE WOULDN'T HAVE THIS PROBLEM!" and with that I heard the door slam shut as mum raced outside, from my window I could hear the car start up and drive away

'Oh for fucks sake' I think to myself 'whatever I'll just hop on with the guys and play some fun games'

As I join our Teamspeak room I hear greetings from multiple friends

"Hey Matt"

"Hey dude"

"Sup nerds"

"Hey boys. So…what we playing today?" I ask the guys in the room.

"Dude were playing Minecraft" one of my friends Sirian responds.

"Wait Minecraft? Holy shit wait gimmie a sec got to go get something to drink first"

I stand up and take my head phones off and stick my head outside the door into the hallway, the living room seems quiet and I can hear my sister watching whatever it is she watches through her door. I make my way over to the cooler we have upstairs next to the television and grab a bottle of cold water. As I make my way back to my room my dad comes out of his and he's holding a bat.

"Dad why do you have that bat?" I ask him cautiously, dad has had violent outbursts before but never with anything like a bat and that makes me nervous.

He doesn't respond

"Dad?" I ask again he starts walking towards my room.

"DAD!" he keeps ignoring me and pushes past me and opens my door. He steps inside my room and asks me something and I'm standing in the doorway

"Matt you see your computer?" he asks pointing at it. 'Oh fuck' I think to myself

"Dad whatever your about to do don-" and I don't get to finish the question as he smashes my screen with his bat knocking it over and breaking it.

"YOU SEE YOUR COMPUTER!?" he yells and smashes the bat into the tower knocking it off my desk and onto the floor, parts lay everywhere.

"DAD WHAT THE FUCK!" I scream back at him; I never yell at my parents normally I just take whatever they give out and I have thicker skin for it but this upset me. The computer was the only break I had left from this world; lord knows my family aren't much help

"SCREW YOUR COMPUTER ITS MESSING WITH YOUR LIFE AND GRADES NOW SIT DOWN AND DO SOME WORK!" he yells back storming past me and leaving the broken computer sitting there on the desk and he sits down on the sofa outside breathing heavily

"ARGH YOU CUNT!" I yell back at him beyond pissed now. He doesn't rise to the insult

I grab my keys to my Honda CBR forgetting my helmet in my rage and run past him down the stairs to head out to my bike

"MATTHEW DARMOTT YOU GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!" He yells down the staircase, I ignore him pulling on my shoes quickly before running out and slamming the door shut.

I plug my earphones in and start playing the Hotline Miami 2 soundtrack, synthwave always calms me down.

I jam my keys into my bike's ignition put it into first and drive off way faster than ever before without safety equipment and after taking a right turn onto the main road. I don't stop speeding. I can't stop and don't want to stop. 60, 70, 80, 90 and I keep going before I can hit a hundred though a truck comes out from a connecting lane. I should have moved, if I had been in a right state of mind I would have slowed down. Instead of that I clip the side of the truck and lose control of my front wheel and the bike flips and I'm sent flying.

As I fly through the air time seems to slow. I see the road ahead of me only lit by the street lights and as I am airborne, I feel the warm wind rushing past me.

I think about the life I have been given, Nice house, wealthy family, great education and I took advantage of it all. I didn't ever stop to think about the actions of those around me.

I tuck my head in and pray for the best landing

'I only ever wanted you to be proud of me Dad' I say mentally. If I could just sit down and start crying and asking for a second chance or forgiveness I would but alas as the ground comes rocketing towards me and everything speeds up again I hit the ground on my back and roll.

I feel the ground and its hardness against my spine and I feel the fracture.

I feel the skin being torn off on my cheek and forehead as I roll over multiple times.

I feel my arm break and snap as its crushed under my own weight as I put it down wrong to protect myself from the fall.

I lay there looking into the air blood filling my vision and the round around me. I can taste the bitter taste of iron and feel the thickness filling my mouth and as I lay there the world around me fading into darkness, I close my eyes for what I think is the last time and I say to the best of my ability 'sorry'

* * *

_Warmth that's what I feel in the darkness_

_A yellow light_

_A hand reaches out to me _

_I get tugged into the colour and my vision explodes_

I wake up floating in a white void, its bright but not enough to hurt my eyes as I look around.

* * *

"Where the hell...am I dead?!"

"**Yes you are"**

"Wait what the fuck who said that?!"

"**I cannot tell you my name"**

"So what are you?!"

**"A higher being something above your mortal comprehension"**

"So why am I here exactly?"

**"Simple. I'm giving you a second chance"**

* * *

Hey guys! I hope you enjoy the prologue and setup to the main character and the story to come as you can guess Matt ends up in the world of RWBY with the powers of the gamer also the crash wasn't actually that bad, I hurt myself got lots of cuts and broke my arm but I was wearing my helmet in the real event so just remember safety first! oh and obviously I didn't end up in RWBY but hey I wish.

Anyways RoyalMD signing off and I will see you all soon.


	2. A rude awakening

**Hey guys hope you liked the prologue, welcome to the first official chapter of Paragon of Remnant. Like most people I do not own anything to do with RWBY it is owned by roosterteeth however I claim credit for all OC's I come up with in this story. Read, review and follow. I hope you enjoy!**

**Paragon of Remnant chapter 1: A rude awakening**

* * *

"Hold on a second…I'm really dead like not living anymore?" I reply as slowly memories of the crash come back and I can almost still feel the pain of the injuries

"**Yes child that crash did in fact kill you on your world of Earth"**

"Fuck my life, I wasn't ready to die yet"

"**I apologize if fate works in mysterious ways but your time had come"**

"Wait so let me get this straight. You are some kind of omniscient god but not like Christian God"

"**Correct, the man that some of your people worship is one of many"**

"And you have decided to give me a second chance?"

"**Correct again"**

"Again, what the fuck?"

"**I can hardly see why you are confused"**

"But why me? I could think of hundreds of people who deserve a second chance at life"

"**Who's to say I haven't given other people a second chance…I have given many a chance, lots of have refused the request believing their purpose has been fulfilled in the plane of the living."**

"Okay…"

"**So Matthew Darmott, I will ask you this one question before I let you decide. Have you fulfilled your purpose?"**

'No…I haven't I've done shit in this life' I thought to myself as I tried to look for any redeeming factors or good things about the life I was living, most of it was all bad. I didn't help people, I didn't do any kinds of community work, I never went out of my way to assist others…I had no real purpose in my past life'.

The God didn't say anything more as I floated there for what must have been hours contemplating my choices, what else could I do but accept it was a great deal for me, I felt lost now with nothing to live for and it's not like I would miss anything in my old life. This was a chance at a fresh start and I wasn't going to let that go to waste.

"Excuse me Mr God? I think I'd like to take up the offer"

Suddenly a glowing rift appeared in front of me slowly expanding upwards until out stepped a humanoid figure made of blue opaque glass, the glass wasn't jagged it was smooth and vibrant and I took it this was the God I was talking to in one of his forms. It didn't say anything it just stuck one hand out towards me and held it there almost as if it new what I was going to say. Then it spoke.

"**Then shake my hand Matthew and step into the new world and your new life"**

I hesitantly stuck my hand out and took his. The moment my hand touched his hand the world around me began to swirl and everything became distorted, I felt my eyes become heavier and as my eyes drooped closed, I fell over into the abyss.

"**The denizens and creatures of the night of this world will be strong, you will need to be stronger. Grow. Thrive. Strengthen yourself for you will be a paragon of the people"**

"**Protect them how you see fit, your life is in your hands now. Of course, I will be providing assistance to you but it is up to you to figure out how to use that power"**

"**Until we meet again Matthew"**

* * *

I gasped as fresh air filled my lungs and I sat up rapidly hands roaming all over my body to check for the injuries from the bike crash.

I felt fine, my skin was still intact and I could twist my back and move my upper torso with ease. I could have sworn I had broken it? Was that really not a dream? Did I actually come back to life?

I noticed it was still dark as I moved my head around and then I realized I hadn't opened my eyes yet for fear of what I might see.

'dumbass' I thought to myself.

Opening my eyes slowly I looked around to see bright red trees everywhere leaves the colours of blood and flowing in the wind like the thick red liquid itself. 'I really need to lighten up' I chuckle to myself before taking a look around. I was on top of a hill and the forest of trees surrounded me in every direction except for one, if I squinted hard enough, I could see an ocean in the distance but that was the only real landmark I was given.

I then turn my eyes inward on myself.

First thing I notice looking down at myself my physique has changed a decent amount, I'm no longer overweight and I now have lean muscle, I can feel it under the clothes I have on

'nice' I say to myself mentally

Speaking of clothes. I also noticed I was wearing a black sports Hoodie along with dark brown cargo pants which were tucked into a pair of steel toed boots, strangely enough I also seemed to have padded finger-less gloves and two cross baldrics across my chest with no swords in the holsters.

'I wonder why I would need this equipment? What kind of place did you throw me into here'

*ding*

**[Welcome Player]**

"Gah! What the fuck!?" I scream loudly as a blue coloured box opens and I fall on my ass in shock. Looking up I can see the box just floating there before it changes again

**[Notice: You have leveled up to level 1 congratulations!]**

**[You have unlocked a new passive ability: Aura Boost]**

**[You have received an item: 100 Lien]**

**[You have received an item: Green key]**

**[You have earned 1 attribute points]**

**[You have earned 10 skill points]**

I suddenly felt a surge of power within me as I read the message and collapsed to the ground in agony for about five seconds before I slowly stood up again however I could notice a faint royal glow of blue around my hands.

'What is this?' I thought to myself. Before I could figure out what it was, I felt a new unfamiliar weight settle in my pocket, as I stuck my hand in, I felt a key? And some kind of card when I pulled it out, I saw an unfamiliar currency logo on what looked like a white credit card, this was probably the Lien. After about 10 seconds a new screen popped up

**[New quest (Daily): Your body is a temple]**

**[New quest: Welcome to remnant]**

"Is this a godamn video game system?" I thought to myself out loud. I reached forward to try and accept the quests only for my hand to just go through the screen. "hm…Quest daily" I said out loud and the daily quest expanded

**[Your body is a temple]**

**[Keeping fit is the key to survival]**

**[Run 8 km's: /8]**

**[Do 100 pushups: /100]**

**[Do 150 Squats: /150]**

**[Do 150 pullups: /150]**

**[Completion of this quest will result in scaling experience points and scaling Restoration Potions]**

**[! Failure to complete quests in 18:45:01 will result in a punishment!]**

"Ok so that's how the quest system works, lets see what else I can do" I think about all the things I could do in most RPG video games

"Open inventory" I prayed to god that I would have an inventory, that would be amazing.

**[Inventory Locked: Level required {5}]**

'I knew it would be too good to be true' I sigh to myself, at least I could get an inventory, I would just have to wait and see how large it was and what it could hold.

"Hmm how about…Open Stats" I called out to the screen and suddenly a screen displaying a figure of me popped up with a whole bunch of numbers and text around it

**[Name: Matthew ?]**

**[Age: 18]**

**[Job: None]**

**[Level: {1}]**

**[Experience Points: 0/100]**

**[Attribute points available: 1]**

**[Skill points available: 10]**

**[Active abilities: None]**

**[Passive abilities: Aura boost]**

**[Health Points: 50/50]**

**[Aura Points: 25/25]**

**[Strength: 5]**

**[Constitution: 5]**

**[Defense: 5]**

**[Intelligence: 5]**

**[Wisdom: 5]**

**[Dexterity: 5]**

**[Tenacity: 5]**

'Hm…so I guess those are my stats'. I think to myself that they seem relatively low but that can probably change over time.

I decide to myself that I will save my skill points for now as I have no idea what this world is made up of and I don't know what my purpose here is yet so it's better I save these for when it might be more important in future.

Finally, I decided to try one last thing. "Open Skill tree" silence…nothing happened, "Open skills!" I called out this time and this time a new page appeared in front of me.

**[Skills]**

**[Warrior: None]**

**[Rogue: None]**

**[Magus: None]**

"Three classes, I guess I'll wait and see what I end up playing to" and with that note I decided it was time for me to leave, I had been up on this mountain enough and I needed to go find something to do, whether it was find civilization or something to slay, I needed more information on where I was and I figured that if I headed to the ocean and walked along the coast I might come across a port town or dock somewhere.

On that note I descended into the red forest ready to explore the new world that lay ahead of me, I didn't fail to notice the daily quest clock ticking away either. I wonder what would happen when the time ran out?

**[! Failure to complete quests in 18:31:43 will result in a punishment!]**

**[! Failure to complete quests in 18:31:42 will result in a punishment!]**

**[! Failure to complete quests in 18:31:41 will result in a punishment!]**

I hope it wasn't anything too bad.

* * *

**Next chapter will be coming out soon (probably a couple of days)**


	3. Burdens

**So I lied, I just couldn't stop writing I really wanted Matt to get into his first fight and kill so here it is also guys and gals if your reading this message thanks for checking out this new chapter of TPoR I really appreciate all the follows and favs so far and it means a lot. Once again RWBY is owned by Roosterteeth and I own the OC's in this story. Remember read, favorite, review and I will see you guys at the end of the chapter. ALSO, Matthew's current stats are below, this will be a thing every chapter.**

* * *

**[Name: Matthew ?]**

**[Age: 18]**

**[Job: None]**

**[Level: {1}]**

**[Experience Points: 0/100]**

**[Attribute points available: 1]**

**[Skill points available: 10]**

**[Active abilities: None]**

**[Passive abilities: Aura boost]**

**[Health Points: 50/50]**

** [Aura Points: 25/25] **

**[Strength: 5]**

**[Constitution: 5]**

**[Defense: 5]**

**[Intelligence: 5]**

**[Wisdom: 5]**

**[Dexterity: 5]**

** [Tenacity: 5]**

* * *

**Paragon of Remnant Chapter 2: First blood**

*ding*

**[Your body is a temple]**

**[Keeping fit is the key to survival]**

**[Run 8 km's: 8/8]**

**[Do 100 pushups: /100]**

**[Do 150 Squats: /150]**

**[Do 150 pullups: /150]**

**[! Failure to complete quests in 12:24:56 will result in a punishment!]**

I look up at the notification box as I see one of the objectives is completed. I figured out about two hours in that I had to physically run to get distance on the quest objective, just walking around doesn't count. I've also noticed that I don't really seem to get thirsty or hungry. I think I can still eat but it just might not be required for my body right now

I've ventured this blood forest for quite a while now and I still don't feel any closer to the coastline than when I first started moving away from that hill. This forest is strange however, I haven't heard any birds singing and I've seen no wild animals, only the tracks of what I must assume are bears imprinted in the dirt. I need to keep my guard up. It's only been one day and I'm not ready to die again.

As I walk further into the forest and amongst the trees I feel at ease, all the despair and sadness I had felt when I died had vanished as the sounds of trees around me rustling in the wind calms my mind.

I let out a content sigh when I hear the sound for a notification

*ding*

**[New Quest has appeared in your vicinity]**

I look up at the message with furrowed eyebrows, a quest out here alone in the forest could only mean two things. Someone needs help, or Something dangerous is out there. I'm guessing it's the latter knowing my shit luck.

I look around trying to see what might have triggered the new quest but as I can't see anything in the immediate vicinity, I push forward further into the forest hoping to see if I can find what triggered the new notification.

After walking for another twenty or so minutes before I came across something that caught my attention. It was a stream of water, but the water wasn't blue oh no that would have been to normal, instead the water had streaks of red in it almost like it was tainted. 'Oh no' and as I look upstream, I can see more crimson streaks flowing downwards.

I think I know what that quest might be about.

Heading upwards in the stream I start to notice the red getting thicker before I come across a sight that makes me gag. Lying face up against the stones on the side of stream was a body. Part of the face was missing, torn off. The other side was covered in red, an open hollow eye looking back at me further down the corpse I saw wide holes in their chest that went all the way through to other side of the body. The position he was lying in made him look like he got thrown by something.

I'm guessing it was a wild boar or something as I could see a broken tusk lying next to his body. Its bone fragments littered the floor covered in that sick red. The man must have broken it off only to have been impaled by the broken piece of bone.

I couldn't help myself anymore and turned around to vomit violently into the stream. 'Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck'. I turn around once again trying to steel myself. It helps. A little…maybe not as much as I hoped. I walk over to the body cautiously; the body looks fresh so whatever killed him might still be around here. As I get closer to inspect the man, I can see rivulets of blood still dripping from the holes that were torn open.

*ding*

**[New Quest identified: Revenge is a dish best served with cold steel]**

**[Quest description: You've found the body of a man who was mauled beyond recognition and judging from his injuries you conclude his death was a painful one. Find the killer whatever they are and make them pay for the life they have taken]**

**[Accept quest?]**

**[Yes/No]**

**[Completion of this quest will result in 150 XP points, 300 Lien, Random weapon of your choosing] **

'Of course, this had to be the fucking quest' I sigh into my hand as I look at his face again "Accept".

**[Revenge is a dish best served with cold steel: Find the killer, slay the killer]**

**[Rewards: 150 XP points, 300 Lien, Random weapon]**

The moment I said accept a black trail of smoke appeared leading further into the forest and weaved through trees until eventually I couldn't see the trail anymore. "Well I'm guessing that's the way the creatures hiding" I start to follow the trail but before I leave, I hesitate. I can't just go and let the body sit here to rot and decide to give him a burial, it's the least I can do for him. This takes a large chunk out of my time than I expect as I have no tools to dig the man's grave. Four hours later I am done and as I lift his body into the grave and cover up the body, I say a silent prayer for the man and whatever family he has. "May you find better luck in your next life; I will bring you justice".

I may have buried the man and payed my respects but I still had a quest to get on with and I needed a weapon. Luckily the man had two swords however one was shattered at the blade the other was in good condition. I knelt down at the edge of the stream and started to wash the man's blood of the swords the crimson staining my hands. I knew it wasn't my fault the man died but I still felt I might have been able to do something if I had been faster. Until I find the killer this the weight of this man's death will always be on my shoulder and after I finished cleaning the two swords of blood, I sheathed the broken one and made my way to follow the smoke trail ignoring the fact I had no knowledge of how to actually use a sword but hey I'd figure it out on the go.

* * *

**3 hours later**

The smoke trail lead to an open clearing in the trees where I saw some rocks and a black mound of fur lying there, the smoke trail seemed to end at the creature. Circling the clearing and observing the creature I noticed white bone plating all along its back as well as a terrifying looking mask that sat on the beasts head, one key thing I did notice however was the missing tusk, this must have been the beast that killed the man and pulled out the intact sword gripping the hilt tight enough to turn my knuckles white. 'I'm going to fucking slaughter you' I thought to myself and as if the beast could hear me it lifted its head to my direction before standing up on all four of its legs. I noticed the limp its back-left foot, the man from earlier must have injured it there as well "Good a weakness I can exploit." As I lock my eyes onto its own a Dark red nameplate appears above the head as well as a threat level.

**[Boartusk]**

**[Threat level: High]**

'Well shit…I probably should have used the attribute point' and then without warning the Boartusk charges and in return I charge towards it.

As the Boartusk and I are about to collide in the middle of the clearing, me with my sword in my hands I jump to try and get over the top of the Boartusk as it's charging so I might bring my sword down in a cleave. I regret this decision almost instantly as I realize I can't jump as high as I thought I could and the still remaining tusk hits me at the knee sending me into a frontflip over it and I land on the ground with a hard thud as it continues on to the end of the clearing before turning around and facing me again.

**[Health Points: 50/50]**

**[Aura Points: 5/25]**

I notice I feel no broken bones or cuts when I hit the ground. I just feel sore on my left leg where I was hit and I see my aura points drop to five. 'So, auras my shield then? I need to be careful if just a hit to my knee costed me almost all my aura'

With a new sense of danger for the Boartusk I slowly pace around it in the clearing, the Boartusk mirroring my movement, then it charges at me again. With my new knowledge about my own skills instead of trying to jump the Boartusk I sidestep to my left and make a wild unruly slash at its injured leg as it runs past. With what is clearly a mix of lucky and my own bullshit skills the sword collides with its left leg, I cut it completely off, its forward momentum combined with my sword slash makes it so the steel cuts through it's the meat and bone like butter.

Two things happened directly after this. One I was kneeling on the ground after the slash shoulder aching as the hit jerked my arm due to me not being prepared for the impact against the Boartusk and two the Boartusk rolled over as it lost its leg and it lay there on the ground not moving, it must have been seriously hurt from its fight with that man before if it collapsed like that.

I walked over to the front of the Boartusk and I noticed it was still shifting its head occasionally almost as if it was looking for something. I laughed as I leaned down close and pulled out the broken sword ignoring the throbbing pain in my arm. "This is for that man you killed" and with that spoken I jammed the broken sword all the way to the hilt underneath its chin right into its head. The creature's head stopped moving as I yanked out the sword and the creature slowly turned to dust and vanished.

"I really need to learn how to use a sword properly."

*ding*

**[XP Gained from kill: 10]**

**[Quest completed: Revenge is a dish best served with cold steel]**

**[Rewards 150XP points, 300 Lien, Obsidian dagger]**

*ding*

**[Notice: You have leveled up to level 2 congratulations!]**

**[You have unlocked a new passive ability: Vital strike - 100% Damage to vital areas]**

**[You have received an item: 100 Lien]**

**[You have received an item: Brawlers Gauntlets]**

**[You have earned 5 skill points]**

"Nice" I whisper to myself out loud still shaken at the fight with the Boartusk earlier. Despite how easily I killed it I knew that I hardly did any of the work most of that was from the man who it ended. I also realized how it could have killed me in four maybe three hits even. I need to get stronger. "Maybe I should use those skill points now".

"Open stats!" I call out and a familiar window opens

**[Name: Matthew ?]**

**[Age: 18]**

**[Job: None]**

**[Level: {2}]**

**[Experience Points: 160/200]**

**[Attribute points available: 1]**

**[Skill points available: 15]**

**[Active abilities: None]**

**[Passive abilities: Aura boost, Vital strike]**

**[Health Points: 50/50]**

** [Aura Points: 5/25] **

**[Strength: 5]**

**[Constitution: 5]**

**[Defense: 5]**

**[Intelligence: 5]**

**[Wisdom: 5]**

**[Dexterity: 5]**

**[Tenacity: 5]**

'Maybe I should put some points into my Defense and Constitution if it managed to almost wipe out my aura in one hit and ill also put some points into Dexterity for now, that should work well in conjunction with the new Vital Strike skill seeing as I can move around the battlefield faster…yea alright lets go with that'

"Assign skill points to Defense, Constitution and Dexterity five each" I call out and my stat numbers I just called out jump up

**^ [Health Points: 50/100] ^ **

**^ [Aura Points: 7/50] ^**

**^ [Constitution: 10] ^**

**^ [Defense: 10] ^**

**^ [Dexterity: 10] ^**

'Wait so Aura seems to regen slowly seeing as I was at five before but now I'm at seven it also seems that defense increases aura? I don't know ill investigate that later similarly with health that went up as well so maybe defense? also it seems that my health doesn't seem to replenish when I apply stat points, it only seems to increase max health. Good to know'

'I'll check out the Obsidian dagger later right now I just want to get the hell out of this forest' and with that I sheathed the intact sword before walking away back into the red forest hoping I might be able to find a way out soon.

* * *

**[! Failure to complete quests in 6:33:51 will result in a punishment!]**

****[! Failure to complete quests in 6:33:50 will result in a punishment!]****

**[! Failure to complete quests in 6:33:49 will result in a punishment!]**

* * *

**Hey guys thanks for reading this chapter, sorry the fight was a bit short I didn't want to make Matt do anything too crazy as he's only level one and hes already realized how dangerous the world is if hes not strong enough and the Boartusk was already crippled hence why the fight was so easy. Anyway I hope you ahve enjoyed this chapter next chapter Matt will meet enter vale and meet some familiar faces.**

**Once again RoyalMD signing off and I will see you all soon**


	4. Greetings

**Hey guys RoyalMD here back for the third chapter of TPoR Sorry for late update I've been having problems with my internet and computer (nice!). As well as uploading this chapter I also made some edits to the last chapter. I mainly made it seem like Matt killed the Boatusk out of luck rather than skill (which is what I hope it looks like now) and after reading some reviews and PM's I have decided to change the EXP system so it is a much more linear progression for Matt now. Anyways I hope you enjoy this new chapter and once again I don't own RWBY it is owned by Roosterteeth however I do claim credit for all OC's in the story. Also once again apologies for the late upload.**

* * *

**[Name: Matthew ?]**

**[Age: 18]**

**[Job: None]**

**[Level: {2}]**

**[Experience Points: (1) 60/100]**

**[Attribute points available: 1]**

**[Skill points available: 0]**

**[Active abilities: None]**

**[Passive abilities: Aura boost, Vital Strike]**

**[Health Points: 50/100]**

** [Aura Points: 42/50] **

**[Strength: 5]**

**[Constitution: 10]**

**[Defense: 10]**

**[Intelligence: 5]**

**[Wisdom: 5]**

**[Dexterity: 10]**

** [Tenacity: 5] **

* * *

The Paragon of Remnant chapter 3: Greetings.

*ding*

**[Your body is a temple]**

**[! Failure to complete quests in 2:00:00 will result in a punishment!]**

'2 hours left on the clock and I haven't done anything other than the running' I think to myself

"hopefully the punishments not too bad I want to get back to civilization before I do anything too stupid or new".

I've been walking through this forest for almost a day now and the sun was setting turning the trees an even more violent shade of red and orange then they were earlier in the day. The sun's rays filtered through the canopy as I looked around the empty forest the feeling of loneliness finally started closing in on me. After having no other contact with anybody today or talking to anyone but a dead body just reinforced the feeling of loneliness I had even more.

On a positive note at least, I had found some form of civilization or a route to civilization at least. It was a train line that was elevated above the treetops and as a result I had to walk under it but the tracks sheltered me from the sun at least and kept me cool so that was nice. "I wonder if those creatures I saw earlier are still following me" I turn around and I can see shadows darting in between the trees, I don't know what they are as I can't clearly see them but I have to assume they are more of those Boarktusks from before. "At least they aren't attacking me" I whisper to myself, if I had that much trouble earlier with just taking out the single Boartusk I would hate to see how I fair against a group of them.

I twirled the obisidan dagger in my hands just in case. The obsidian dagger I was rewarded with was pretty cool looking with its black glade gleaming in the fading light whoever made it must have been a master craftsman before I remembered the system made it and could probably generate a hundred more of it. The stats it gave were decent as well it gave me a +5 to dexterity and the dagger also had an effect +20% damage to armoured targets. Given how I couldn't see my targets health or armour I couldn't tell how much damage it actually did and when I called out 'Observe' the system told me it was locked until level 3, so I could only wait and see.

I fell back into the steady walking pace as I progressed further along the railway (I could only hope I was travelling close to civilization but I quickly realized how stupid I sounded as there's a train stop at both ends of the track I realize). It was getting closer to night when in the distance I saw some lights flickering in between the trees I could feel my heart start to speed up in hope. 'please, please PLEASE be civilization' and with a renewed vigor I quickly pushed on in a light jog now hoping to make it to the lights before night fall less I become trapped in this forest at night time and god forbid that.

As time went by and I was still jogging a new quest notification popped up which startled me as I had been walking in relative silence as of recentley.

*ding*

**[New Quest identified: Welcome home?]**

**[Quest description: You have travelled far and long and are now in seek of shelter for the night, you have almost made it out of Forever Fall forest. Head towards the suspicious lights and determine where you are. The more information gathered the easier your new life will be.]**

**[Quest cannot be declined]**

**[Completion of this quest will result in 500XP Points and a Greater understanding of the world of ***]**

"Forever fall, hm that's quite a suiting name" I finally know where I am 'This system isn't not holding back on making sure I do everything by myself is it'. I sigh again (a reoccurring theme I notice about myself, have I gotten more dramatic recently?) but at the very least I now know that the lights I saw before are indeed coming from civilization and I once again start moving and pick up the pace.

Walking without anything else to distract me was boring so I decided I might check up on some of the new things I acquired and decided I wanted to acquire my first skill 'If the system decided to give me an obsidian dagger maybe it wants me to become a rogue? No. If I just focused on one thing I might be weak in every other sense, yea that's it ill stick to the route of a jack of all trades but since I got the dagger first ill invest in a rogue skill.' I paused and did a double-take to make sure there was nothing around, luckily the forest was about as empty as it was during the walk here.

"Skills!" and with a satisfying ding a page popped up that I was familiar with except its layout changed from when I last checked…interesting I'll have to make note that the system seems to update itself

*ding*

**[Attributes]**

**[Warrior] [Aura Magus] [Rogue]**

**[ATP: 0] [ATP: 0] [ATP: 0]**

"Interesting so instead of mage its an Aura Magus…I guess because aura is similar to mana or something?" I ponder over the strange word choice before coming to the conclusion that I liked the sound of Aura Magus however straying from the game plan was probably the worse thing I could have done so I stuck with what I committed myself to originally.

"Apply attribute rogue!"

*ding*

**[Attributes]**

**[Warrior] [Aura Magus] [Rogue]**

**[ATP: 0] [ATP: 0] [ATP: 1 (+5% to rogue damage)]**

**[You have earned a new Job title: Novice Rogue]**

**[You have unlocked a new specialized rogue skill: Vanish - Standing still for 5 seconds will allow you to blend into surroundings {Must be out of combat, does not work on higher-level entities} ]**

'Hell yea that should be great against the Boartusks' I stand still and after five seconds I notice that I can see the floor through my shoes, all be it a little bit distorted but it should be good enough to fool those monsters. I also consider putting on the title as that clearly must have some kind of bonus with it

"Title!" but nothing happens. I try again with a different command "Job" and this time a familiar ding pops up and a list drops down

**[Current Job: none]**

**[Available Jobs: Novice Rogue +5% bonus to lien collected]**

'Oh that could come in handy' I thought "Equip Job Novice Rogue" and with a ding, the drop-down page closed and my main stats page appeared again

**[Name: Matthew ?]**

**[Age: 18]**

**[Job: Novice Rogue]**

**[Level: {2}]**

"Right time to stop messing around and actually get to that damn city or town or whatever the fuck it is." And with that final note, I set of in the dark forest again with more confidence than earlier thanks to the new rogue skill I unlocked.

* * *

_1 hour of peaceful walking later_

* * *

*ding*

**[You have now entered a safe zone your Aura and Health will replenish at a rapid rate]**

'Does that mean I can still die if it only replenishes at a rapid rate and I don't have invincibility?' That was a worrying though, the last thing I need is for some enemy to instantly kill me in a safe-zone and knowing how much damage that injured boar tusk did to my aura just after hitting me in the knee I was worried.

"Alright time to start looking around for information". After I exited the forest earlier, I found myself in an industrial-looking zone, the train line that I followed entered a warehouse just in front of me and I decided it was time to dip before anyone noticed I was there. I noticed the area I was in had decent looking buildings with architecture reminding me of Old London and Renaissance France and overall it was intriguing as I have never seen a civilization like this before as there were still modern devices around like streetlamps and such.

I walked aimlessly not noticing the people around me or the direction I was travelling, I was just going where ever my brain told me before I walked into someone by accident knocking both them and myself to the ground.

"Oh, shit sorry!" I exclaim quickly after recovering. Oh god I've been here what five minutes? And I've already ruined someone's night probably. "Hey no worrie…" and the person I bumped into stops talking as they just stare at me before I stare back, I didn't realize how good looking the person I bumped into was. She had gorgeous blonde hair that shone like gold under the street lights and bright lilac eyes that shone with mischief, she was a little bit shorter than me I also noticed the girl's strange choice in clothing but then again who was I to judge? I was dressed in clothing just as strange although the shorts she wore did not fail to draw my attention to her long legs.

I shuddered.

This woman gave me the chills.

Before we had a chance to do anything else or say anything else...

*ding*

**[Your body is a temple]**

**[! Failure to complete quests in 0:00:03 will result in a punishment!]**

**[! Failure to complete quests in 0:00:02will result in a punishment]**

**[! Failure to complete quests in 0:00:01 will result in a punishment]**

**[You have failed to complete the daily quest. Re-location to the punishment zone is imminent]**

And with a flash of light, I was standing in the middle of the road, with everyone else around me gone the street was devoid of life and I was confused, was this the punishment zone? Wasn't I just here? I was about to call out before I got another notification that was very worrying and ominous

**[Survive: 2:00:00]**

Nothing else just that notification before I heard something behind me.

A familiar growl and I saw Boartusk pop around the corner of the street, followed by another one and another one and I heard more growls confirming there were even more coming. Was this the punishment? Mental future note to self, follow the systems daily quest. Before I could even register what happened the Boartusks charged at me and I ran down the street and I didn't look back once...

* * *

**Hey guys thanks for reading this chapter, I hope you enjoyed and don't worry even though we got a glimpse of the RY I promise that we will meet more people next chapter and we can get started into Volume 1 properly. Thanks again RoyalMJD signing out.**


	5. Humble beginnings

Hey guys I'm back with another chapter. Sadly I haven't had any writing time recently as I've been writing essays and dealing with a shitload of work to do with university so haha…*cough* ahem anyways I hope you enjoy this chapter and I'd like to know if you guys want Matt to attend Beacon at all. I have no real plans for it but Crowned Reaper brought up the point in my mind and I have no clue. If you guys think it might be better for the story then just leave a review or PM me and I'll put some thought into it. Also there is some heavy Deus Ex Machina in this chapter. As always read, review and favourite!

**P.S I am writing this with the belief that the lien to dollar conversion rate will be about 1 to 1 just to make pricing easier when it comes to items in stores like books and dust etc.**

**The Crowned Reaper: Yea I don't really have a plan for Matt to head to Beacon as of right now (as stated earlier) I plan on keeping him in touch with students from Beacon but if he's going to learn any skills they will probably be self-taught and ill probably stick him in a place like Tukson's book trade or a café somewhere.**

**Guest: I know there was a lot of Deus Ex Machina and I'm aware that the daily quest could have been completed really easily (especially for an 18 hour time limit) however I wanted Matt to get the punishment if only so he can see what it is as the curiosity got the better of him (as he said himself in a past chapter "It can't be that bad as I'm only level 1". Once again apologies for his thick skull but that just the way it goes.**

**Merlin: Yep that might or something like Haki might happen in future. With regards to tenacity It'll basically be a boost of his Aura's maximum limit as well as help with his control of Aura also the tenacity will link to his mental fortitude so in future if he stacks up tenacity Emerald's semblance won't work on him as his mind is too strong for that.**

* * *

**[Name: Matthew ?]**

**[Age: 18]**

**[Job: Novice Rogue]**

**[Level: {2}]**

**[Experience Points: (1) 60/100]**

**[Attribute points available: 0]**

**[Skill points available: 0]**

**[Active abilities: None]**

**[Passive abilities: Aura boost, Vital Strike, Vanish]**

**[Health Points: 50/100]**

** [Aura Points: 36/50] **

**[Strength: 5]**

**[Constitution: 10]**

**[Defense: 10]**

**[Intelligence: 5]**

**[Wisdom: 5]**

**[Dexterity: 10]**

**[Tenacity: 5]**

* * *

The paragon of Remnant chapter 4: Humble beginnings

**[Survive: 0:32:51]**

I had been running for almost the full hour and a half now now with only short breaks in between where I thought I might've lost the Boartusks but as it turns out the system just decides to spawn more near my location if the current ones chasing me lost the scent I was carrying. Vanish didn't seem to work either. Seems like the system wants to keep me on my toes as nothing happened to me when I stood still for the required amount of time.

I wasn't scared per-se as I knew if I played this smartly then I could avoid the beasts chasing me, I knew that. However, didn't mean I wasn't a little nervous, most of the time I had been weaving in and out of the buildings of this city and I had found myself at dead ends multiple times, luckily, I was always a little bit faster than the beasts. I'd have to put this little bit of extra speed to the fact that I had a decent amount of dexterity points maybe? I didn't really have the time to stop and ponder this fact as I had to keep running.

I had explored a lot of this city more of this city as well as I've been running through the streets making notes to myself about things to do such as check out lots of these places in future as they could help with my growth and the completion of the quest, I'm currently working on I would also have to figure out why didn't feel fatigued at all despite moving almost non-stop for the good part of the time I've been in the punishment zone. I would also have to ma-

*CRASH*

The wall that I just passed breaks open and bricks fly everywhere as another Boartusk joins the chase for my life.

'Guess all this other shit will have to wait while I finish this punishment'. I push the thoughts to the back of my head and keep running with no sense of direction hoping I'll get another rest soon.

* * *

**[Survive: 0:00:08]**

As the last eight seconds come to a close, I slowly wind down my sprint despite the still chasing boartusks as I've got enough space that I can relax and with a very satisfying and familiar ding but I don't get to see the notification as I run square into someone. I hear them yell as once again I've realized for the second time today in the period of a couple of hours, I've run into someone and ruined there night.

I stare into Emerald Green eyes lost in a bit of a trance at how beautiful as they shimmer under the lights of the street lamps illuminating the darkness of the street around us. Red hair is splayed out on the street and I take in the girls looks and commit it to memory

'note to self, the women in this place are good looking'

"uhm excuse me." A soft feminine voice knocks me out of my trance and I stand up as quickly as possible

"S-Sorry" I stutter as I offer my hand out to her which she gladly takes and as she stands up, I can see she's almost as tall as me and man she looks even better standing up. We both kind of just stand there not really knowing what to say and I swear I can hear crickets chirping

"Yeah I'll be on my way" She awkwardly says to me and walks past me in the direction she was headed before I bumped into her.

"see yah round" I mumble under my breath, curse my social skills sometimes. With the girl gone I turn around to check the notification that popped up before I bumped into her

**[You have survived the punishment zone]**

**[Choose a reward]**

**[Selection time left: 01:58:54]**

**[1] [Status recovery: Full health points and Aura]**

**[2] [Random Skill book: Scaled to level]**

**[3] [Extra Lien: Scaled to level]**

'Wait so for finishing a punishment that was set because I didn't do something, I still get a reward? That's pretty stupid but hey I'm not complaining' I take a moment to contemplate what I could possibly use; a random skill book could be really good but it might not be something I want to use. What happens if I get a warrior spell book? Yea the skill book can wait for now.

Extra Lien could be good as I have no clue of how expensive things in this world are and I might need some local currency if I want to get some information so maybe that? But a full status recovery could be good as my health points are still at fifty and I haven't noticed them regenerate at all.

After some consideration I end up picking the status recovery as I have no idea how to regenerate my health points yet and until then I'll play the safe game.

"Reward one" I say and with a familiar ding a green light rushes over me briefly. I notice the fact some people tilt their heads looking at me before carrying on as if seeing something like that is a normal occurrence, maybe I should not do that in public.

*ding*****

**[Health Points: 100/100]**

**[Aura Points: 50/50]**

**[Health and Aura restored]**

I sigh in relief as my health points go up to the maximum, finally I can get on with that quest knowing with confidence I have full health and Aura.

"Open quests"

A drop-down list appears of all the quests I currently have. 'Hm that's new, the quest page didn't look like a list before…whatever I can't be bothered worrying about the little things like that'

**[Quest list]**

**[DQ] [Your body is a temple (BLOCKED)]**

**[1] [Welcome home?]**

**[2] […]**

Ah that was it, welcome home. Find information on this new world…shouldn't be too difficult and with the quest set in my mind I start to wonder off to start my hunt for information. I had a whole lot of places I wanted to check out.

The first place I wanted to check out that I saw on my way here was a shop called "From Dust till dawn" nice play on words by the owner there, I can guess it's a reference to that nineteen nineties movie Dusk till Dawn, but I don't know how they would know about that here in a different world. Or it could just be one hell of a coincidence and I'm just severely overthinking it.

This shop caught my attention for two specific reasons. One, the shop was one of the only ones at this time of night that was still open (that wasn't a bar) so that's convenient for me. Secondly the shop storefront looked welcoming and this time I'm going to judge a book by its cover and probably guess that the owners a welcoming person as well.

I open the door and look around the store. There's an old man working at a counter and in the glass cabinets around him I see colorful crystals each of different cuts and sizes, on the shelves behind him the crystals seemed to have been ground down into a dust like substance 'guess that's why he chose the name'.

"Ah greetings young man". The old man greets me warmly. "Looking to purchase some dust?"

"Uhm no actually I was looking for some information" I respond.

He looks at me for a moment. "You're not from around Vale, are you?"

'Vale, is that this place's name?' "Um yea how could you tell?"

"When you work as long as I have it's easy to tell when someone is lost" he smiles at me "So what kind of information are you looking for?"

"Well I was wondering if you knew of any places that hold public information about Vale, like you said I'm new around here and I want to understand a bit more about Vale itself"

"There's a public library not too far from here they might have the information you're looking for also across the city there is a bookstore named Tukson's. I know the owner and he might also have the information you need" the old man tells me.

I'm surprised at how willing he was to just tell me all this, most people would be suspicious of a person dressed in black with a dagger and two swords walking into their store but I thank the heavens that he's kind enough to give me what I'm looking for.

"Thanks a lot!" I quickly answer him; I now knew the name of the city I was located in and I had some extra locations I could check out for answers.

"My pleasure" and he turns around to go back to rearranging the crystals

"One more quick question sir" the old man looks over his shoulder at me as if telling me 'go ahead'

"What are these crystals you've got lined up here?" He looks at me quizzically as if I should already know the answer myself.

"Why its dust of course my boy" he chuckles lightly as he tells me. "What do you think my store sold? Food?"

"Right sorry I just haven't seen dust crystals like this before" I lie right through my teeth. 'Dust. Ok I have no idea what it is but at least I have a name to it now'

*ding*

**[You've gained +1 Intelligence]**

'Oh…nice, I guess I got that for learning something new about the world?' I sigh as I thank the man once again and make my way back outside into the night, the door of the store lightly closing behind me.

"What to do now?" I mumble to myself. I was feeling the affects now of all the walking and running I've done today and I'd been awake for almost twenty-four hours now.

I look up into the sky and take a deep breath, the night air is cool and welcoming. I open my eyes and I notice I don't recognize any of the constellations. 'New world huh...' I glance around the sky my eyes stopping on the moon and carrying on before I suddenly do a double take.

"What the fuck…" I don't know how I didn't notice before, maybe I just wasn't paying attention but above me in the night sky hangs a shattered moon. "How is that even possible?" I question to myself as I look upon the face of what must have once been a glorious celestial body now shattered on one half into pieces. Chunks of the moons were scattered in space and I could only stare in wonder. 'More questions for the history book's I think to myself.

"I need to find somewhere I can stay for the night. I don't want to spend my time out here on the streets" and on that note, I started walking once again.

* * *

After what must have been a while of walking, I eventually came up to a decent looking place with rooms for rent for the night. The fee was a tad bit expensive for me costing me Sixty-five lien for the room but it was better than not getting any rest at all.

The receptionist gave me they key after she took my white lien card and gave me back a green and blue one which I could only guess were a Twenty-five and a twenty. The room was clean and tidily kept although a bit empty, I only had a bed a small mini-fridge desk with a chair and a nightstand attatched to the main room was a small bathroom with a shower toiler and a sink. The best part of the room though was definitely the view I was only three floors up but most of the buildings around here weren't that tall anyway and from the window I could see a lot of the city as the place I was staying at was on a hill.

Who knows I might make this place my living quarters if I can't find anywhere else to stay in this world…I mean at least it's quiet here and I was happy with it.

I sat down at the desk and took stock of what I had with me and also to see what I might need to acquire. Before I got started on checking my inventory I ran down to the front desk and asked for a pen and paper promising I would give the pen back and as soon as I sat down at the desk I started to take notes of what I needed to do/get and what I already had.

* * *

After about thirty minutes I had managed to compile a list of the things I needed to do here

\- Find out the name of this place (Vale could be city or country)

\- Tukson's book shop [Information]

\- Public library [History and Dust]

\- Source of income.

\- Weapon store somewhere.

\- Find out what the green key is used for.

\- Grind out stats.

I think that was a pretty solid list but I was to tired to care anymore at this point and after turning off the lights I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

* * *

_Searing pain down my arm and my spine_

_I'm coughing out blood_

_I can hear the familiar horn of the truck_

_I'm lying on the floor in pain again_

_I try to scream but only a wet gurgle comes out_

_I lie there on the road feeling my life leave me and I close my eyes waiting for death to wash over me._

* * *

I yell as I wake up panting heavily and sweating…hard

''It was just a dream Matt. Just a dream'' except I knew it wasn't because that really happened to me and if I focused hard enough, I could still feel the pain from the crash.

The sheets have been absolutely soaked by my sweat as I stand up and take a deep breath as the warm glow of the sun trickles through the gap in the curtains.

Still shaken up from the dream a familiar ding comes to my attention as I'm still looking out the window and I dread what it has to say.

* * *

*ding*

**[New quest (Daily): Your body is a temple]**

**[Your body is a temple]**

**[Keeping fit is the key to survival]**

**[Run 8 km's: /8]**

**[Do 100 pushups: /100]**

**[Do 150 Squats: /150]**

**[Do 150 pullups: /150]**

**[Completion of this quest will result in scaling experience points and scaling Restoration Potions]**

**[! Failure to complete quests in 19:34:26 will result in a punishment!]**

* * *

I chuckle to myself as the all-too familiar quest pops up

"Might as well get started somewhere"

I take of my sweat soaked shirt and drop down to the floor

**[Do 100 pushups: 1/100]**

**[Do 100 pushups: 2/100]**

**[Do 100 pushups: 3/100]**

"This is going to be a long day"

* * *

**BAZINGA. Next chapter involves skill books, embarrassing lack of gun control and everyone's favourite thing in gamer fanfictions…instant dungeons (except Matt won't have the power to instantly summon them and become super OP purely off of those and be given and inconceivable amount of Lien for something he spawns). Anyways I'll see you all next time. Also don't be afraid to PM me if you have any way for me to improve my own writing. I'm always happy for advice. Finally, I am aware not much really happened this chapter. This was just to get Matt set up in vale next chapter is where all the real action starts.**


	6. Learning the Ropes

**Authors note: IM BACK! Hooray! Its taken me far too long to get back into the swing of things and I am finally done with a whole bunch of Job shit and I can get on with the writing.**

**In this Chapter Matt Learns a bit more about Remnant and by a bit I mean a lot. Also wow levels and rewards I kind of nice. Like stated previously I don't want him to get super overpowered and strong super early so this is going to be a slow-boat to strength story.**

**Also thanks Crowned Reaper for suggesting the Persona Cross over I have never really had a look at crossovers and I really enjoyed it. I think if anyone's looking for a coffee shop cross over that will really engage you. Check out **_**'Paradise Lost' **_**by Abel Sephaos.**

**Shoutout to SkeletalPheonix as well for recognizing the system idea from solo levelling, I'm glad you are also a man of culture**

**One last note Blake will appear at the end of this chapter and the canon will be altered a tiny bit. Beacon won't start for another couple of weeks or so. Ruby's fight with Roman normally happens a tiny bit before she attends beacon but in order for this story to work, I need beacon to start later than normal.**

**Anyway! Back into the grind we go. ****Fav, Follow, Review yada yada yada all the typical Jazz **

**Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY. RWBY is property of Rooster teeth, I only claim credit for Matt the OC**

* * *

**[Name: Matthew ?]**

**[Age: 18]**

**[Job: Novice Rogue]**

**[Level: {2}]**

**[Experience Points: (1) 60/100]**

**[Attribute points available: 0]**

**[Skill points available: 0]**

**[Active abilities: None]**

**[Passive abilities: Aura boost, Vital Strike, Vanish]**

**[Health Points: 50/100]**

** [Aura Points: 36/50] **

**[Strength: 5]**

**[Constitution: 10]**

**[Defense: 10]**

**[Intelligence: 6]**

**[Wisdom: 5]**

**[Dexterity: 10]**

**[Tenacity: 5]**

* * *

"Open quest daily!"

**[Your body is a temple]**

**[Keeping fit is the key to survival]**

**[Run 8 km's: 0/8]**

**[Do 100 pushups: 100/100]**

**[Do 150 Squats: 150/150]**

**[Do 150 pullups: 150/150]**

**[Completion of this quest will result in scaling experience points and scaling Restoration Potions]**

**[! Failure to complete quests in 18:12:46 will result in a punishment!]**

"Glad I got most of that out of the way. I just need to do the running now but I can do that as I go around town" I sit back down on the park bench content with what I've already done and the day hasn't even started yet for me. The sun is sitting just above the horizon and the morning air was still cool.

After leaving the place that I was staying in for the night I found a local park with some exercise equipment outside, this helped me finish the daily quest relatively easily.

"Right so what now?"

I pull out the list that I drafted last night in the room and take a quick glance over everything that I planned to do in the immediate future and decided that today I would start by trying to find more information and hopefully find another place to stay tonight

"First stop. Tukson's bookshop…now where would that be?" I sigh and resign myself to the fact I know where literally nothing is in this place and I start to wonder aimlessly around the city just following the streets and making mental notes of all the signs I see, places like Beacon docks and Main street seem to be popping up on lots of signs and I need to remind myself to add those places to my list later of things that I might need to look up at the library or ask around for.

The streets this early in the morning I have come to learn are relatively empty, I'm guessing it must only be around six-thirty am as the sky is still a cloudy grey above the city and I enjoy taking my time strolling down the streets. Sure, I have things to do today but as of right now I just want to relax a little bit especially after the fiasco that happened last night and I find myself calmer than I had been in the previous day, must be the sleep I finally got and the lack of monsters chasing me. The walk down the road that I'm on is filled with early morning shop keepers all opening early and taking stock of what they have people are moving in and out carrying boxes of stuff they'll be using later and I start to wonder if maybe I could get a job with one of these people packing boxes and sorting stuff out just for some quick and easy income? Or maybe I could open my own business…No. Way too ambitious right now, I have no money and I don't even know where I am, I have more important things to worry about right now.

Eventually I got tired of just wandering and decided to ask someone for directions to either the library or to Tukson's. I spotted an old man walking down the street he was holding a cane and drinking what looked like coffee in a mug.

'Huh who knew they had coffee here, I wonder what other similarities our worlds have?'

"Excuse me sir" I say walking up to him, he gives me an inquisitive look as if asking me to continue

"I'm looking for the Tukson's book shop and the Library, could you point me in their direction?"

He stands there for a moment before responding. "Well I haven't heard of this Tukson's but if anywhere I believe your best bet would be in the outskirts where all the smaller shops reside, the library however is just up main street."

"Thank you very much Mr…?" Still haven't learned his name, I should probably introduce myself before asking random strangers questions.

"Ozpin." He responds with a single word.

"Mr Ozpin then, thanks for the help" and I nod before walking away in the direction he pointed me in as Ozpin also turns away falling back into his stride with his coffee cup in hand.

* * *

_Time Skip_

* * *

The Library for Vale was much bigger than I expected, It must have been about the same size as the Library of congress in-fact it was probably bigger and there was probably millions of books however I spent a lot of the morning browsing and just wandering grabbing whatever books I could that might help me gather some of the information that I needed on the world I was stuck in and man was I impressed at the size, I probably already stated that but the books went on for even further than I expected when I was actually inside the library. I could see all kinds of books, from comics to history books that must have had hundreds of pages. Not many people from back home knew this but I really loved to read, it was on of my hobbies and I wished I had done it more. This place was already on its way to becoming my second home while I was here.

I was sitting at a desk by one of the windows at the end of the library with books stacked high ranging from titles such as; A beginner's guide to aura, You and your soul and Aura and its applications. To books like; A history of remnant, Dust mechanics and Grimm 101. I had learnt a lot about the world I was in now and these books were going to help me do that. Apparently, the world I was in was called Remnant and I was on a continent called Sanus within a kingdom known as Vale, funny enough that was also the name of the city I was currently in, so that was confusing.

The other major continents of the world where known as Anima, Solitas and Menagerie. Each continent had their own respective geography and kingdoms, I also made a mental note about how almost all of those words were Latin, peculiar that we shared a language seeing as we came from completely different worlds.

The first continent I read about was Anima which was the Latin word for soul. The continent hosted the kingdom of Mistral and many larger settlements. This continent had large swamps that were deadly to try and traverse on your own. Mistral also what looked like beautiful windswept cliffs photos of these were scatted throughout the book which is where the first settlers of Mistral decided to make themselves at home. The building style was reminiscent of Japan I also noted. With temples and Kawara tiles.

'I wonder if their culture is the same as the Japanese or Chinese?'

The second continent was Solitas. Solitas was supposedly a cold arctic tundra which was according to the books "as beautiful as it was deadly" of this world. Solitas had one major kingdom and that was known as Atlas (Greek now as well?). Atlas was on the vanguard of new technology. With a floating city and robots serving as the military it was a wonder how the monsters and creatures of the world were even a threat.

'Atlas would be a nice place to visit. I've always loved snow and snowboarding so if I have some money and down time, I could go visit atlas'

Next we had Menagerie. This continent was located to the south of Anima and a lot of it was desert however the people who lived there made this work. The settlements were most along the coastlines and where densely packed cities. From the images I could gather of Menagerie I could see hints of Asian style buildings like mistral but also mixed in with things like Fijian thatch styling. It looked interesting and one key thing I noted about the place was that it was a safe-haven for the "Faunus" population but this was also a problem for me as they apparently didn't like humans so much and after reading about the Faunus rights revolution, I couldn't really blame them for disliking us.

'If I do end up visiting Menagerie, I'll need to find a Faunus to take me then.'

Finally, we had Sanus, the continent I was stuck on. Unlike the other continents of this world Sanus had two kingdoms, Vale and Vacuo. The kingdom of Vale was located at the North-eastern end of Sanus and was surrounded by mountains and shallow coastal water. This meant that similarly to Solitas, there were natural barriers protecting Vale from the monsters and that it was a good place to live in, the kingdom had some problems such as racial tensions with the Faunus but that was about all I could find on problems with this place. Most of the settlements were coastal such as Vale the city I was in now. The topography around the city I was in specifically was very hilly with large expanses of trees both of which made up the Emerald Forest and Forever Fall which was where I woke up in.

Vacuo was once a thriving oasis in the midst of a desert however years and years of human activity around the area meant that the once large oasis was known just as empty and desolate as the desert that surrounded it. Why people chose to live in Vacuo I had no clue and not much else had to be said about the area.

'Now I understand the geography time to learn a little bit more about the people' and on that note I picked up a book about the Great war of Remnant

* * *

Time skip

* * *

I had no clue how much time had passed and I was lost in thought when I was reading about the Grimm before I felt a tap on my shoulder. I pulled my head out of my book and turned around to look at the person who was tapping me and I realized it was just one of the librarians.

"Excuse me sir we are closing now, I can keep these books here for you so that tomorrow you may come back and continue but for now I'll have to ask you to leave"

"No worries and thanks" I reply swiftly before helping the librarian put away some of the books I was done with and after helping clean up a little bit I opened the doors and stepped out into the night.

*ding*

**[You've gained +5 Intelligence and a new passive skill: Scholar – You absorb knowledge 50% faster]**

'Oh, nice that must have been from all the book reading I did.' Before I get to think anything else, I hear a flood of notifications

*ding*

*ding*

*ding*

*ding*

*ding*

*ding*

**[New Quest Completed: Welcome home?]**

**[Rewards 500XP Points, A greater understanding of the World of Remnant]**

**[Notice: You have leveled up to level 3 congratulations!]**

**[Notice: You have leveled up to level 4 congratulations!]**

**[Notice: You have leveled up to level 5 congratulations!]**

**[Notice: You have leveled up to level 6 congratulations!]**

**[Notice: You have leveled up to level 7 congratulations!]**

**[ALERT: YOU HAVE LEVELED UP MULTIPLE TIMES – Do you want to receive all rewards now? Y/N]**

'Wow…That is a metric assload of notifications and 5 levels as well? I can't wait to see what the rewards are!' I smile to myself and decide what's the point in checking out the rewards it can't really hurt.

"Yes" and with that one word my vision is overtaken by screens popping up left right and center so many show up in fact that I fall over in my surprise just at how many things there are and judging from my first glance they were bound to be good.

**[Notice: You have leveled up to level 3 congratulations!]**

**[You have received an item: 100 Lien]**

**[You have earned 5 skill points]**

**[You have earned a choice reward please chose from the selected rewards]**

**[Skill book – Swords] [Skill book – Daggers] [Skill book – One Handed Gun's]**

'Oh. Skill books…I wonder how those work? Maybe as the same in most of the games I play and stories I read. I just use them I guess and then I learn what I'm doing?' I contemplate the choice I have been given and list of the advantages in each skill book and the weapons they are offering in my head. Swords I see no real advantage to. I have a sword holstered but I don't enjoy using it at all and the class I have chosen just doesn't seem to fit with swords.

Dagger's would be the most logical as I already have the obsidian dagger and I went for rogue like abilities so that's got quite the sway on my choice.

One handed gun's however does seem useful. I would like to have the range advantage especially if I'm going to be fighting those Grimm (which I learnt the name of through my reading) and I don't know how effective a dagger might be against the armored hide of an Ursa Major.

In the end after some consideration I end up picking the One-Handed Gun's book. Knowing how to aim and fire a gun properly instead of shitting bullets everywhere does seem useful in a time where people are still using medieval weapons.

"One Handed Gun's." I say to the system and next thing I know thick book hits the ground in front of me. It's brown and worn and on the front cover I see two revolvers with barrels crossing each other's etched into the rough leather.

I pick it up off the ground and read what the front says.

"One handed gunslinging…Hm, neat." Just as I am about to open the front cover and have a look inside the next notification pops up

**[Notice: You have leveled up to level 4 congratulations!]**

**[You have received an item: 200 Lien]**

**[You have received an item: Green key]**

**[You have received an Item: Pistol Components x5]**

**[You have earned 5 skill points]**

"Well I guess that solves my Lien problems tonight, I can just go back to the hotel that I stayed at last night."

I look over the list of the rewards for leveling up again and I noticed I have gained even more skill points and realize how nice that is that I don't have to consistently grind for them, I mean hell I haven't even figured out how to gain skill points for 90% of the skills yet. I also take a second to contemplate why my stats are called skills when skills are something you normally actively do and the-

**[Notice: System is being updated in 3 seconds]**

**[Notice: System is being updated in 2 seconds]**

**[Notice: System is being updated in 1 seconds]**

**[Notice: System has been updated – for the update list say "list"]**

'Um what?' did I make it do that?

"List" I say cautiously and one line pops up Infront of me.

**[Update list: Changed Skill points to Stat points]**

'That's creepy…does that mean that the system is listening to my thoughts and movements? Stupid question of course it is but that still doesn't change the fact that the system has errors that I can correct, so maybe the system isn't entirely flawless.'

Moving on from the creepy message I hear a metallic clank and on the ground before me are five pieces of metal that look like parts of guns.

'These must be the gun fragments the system told me I was getting but how do I even use these, I don't know anything about creating weapons and also how the hell am I going to carry all this?'

I pickup one of the gun pieces off of the ground and examine it. As I'm rotating the component in my hand trying to see what part of a gun it is a silhouette pops up on a separate screen with the numbers 5/15 displayed above the blacked-out image. Parts of the image slowly being to light up which are the components I have been given and I realize that this is the page of all the parts I need for this gun.

'So, I need to collect another 10 pieces huh? I wonder what the turnout will be.' Then one final thing appears in my pocket as I didn't notice the weight before but I pull it out and it's another green key. I still can't examine these damn things so I just pocket the key and decide to try and figure out how I'm

going to carry these gun components in my pockets.

**[Notice: You have leveled up to level 5 congratulations!]**

**[You have received an item: 400 Lien]**

**[You have received an item: Inventory Backpack]**

**[You have received an item: Armor blueprints]**

**[You have received new housing: Vale Heights Apartment – Use command "Go Home 1" to be transported.]**

**[You have earned 20 stat points]**

**[You have received 2 Attribute Points]**

"Holy shit! Finally!" I accidentally exclaimed out loud. I had a look around just to make sure nobody saw me but luckily at this time of night the streets are mostly empty and clear so that means no one saw the outburst but I couldn't help but feel giddy! Finally, an inventory! I instantly reached down and grabbed the grey backpack that appeared in front of me.

It looked like a three-litre camelbak backpack that fit snuggly on my back. I took it off ad opened it up before finding that I was just looking into pure darkness, there was no inside to the bag. To test out what exactly it did I took one of the green keys out of my pocket and stuck it in the backpack and as soon as the key touched the darkness of the bag it vanished before a screen popped up Infront of me.

**[Inventory]**

**[Green key x1]**

'Now how do I get it out? Eh whatever, I'll figure this out when I get off the street' I put the gun components and the skill book into the backpack along with the other green key before I sling it on. I immediately noticed that the backpack had no real weight to it which felt peculiar seeing as I just dumped a massive book and a bunch of gun components into it.

The next thing I received was armor blueprints. Right now, the sheet was about A3 sized but it was blank so I had no idea what to do with that right now, just another thing I could put in my backpack and hope would be cool in the future

Finally, a key popped into existence Infront of me floating just before my eyes. Unlike the other things that appeared the key was floating instead of just being dropped and there was a description with it.

"**I hope you enjoy the new apartment -_D" _**

'D's probably the guy in charge of all of this'

"Thanks D!" I yell out hoping that he can here me from wherever he is. Lord knows my own place to sleep will be nice.

"Go to Home 1" I say to the system and I saw a countdown timer appear at the top of my view

**[Transporting home in 3]**

**[Transporting home in 2]**

**[Transporting home in 1]**

With a bright flash of light, I found myself staring at a door in a dark hallway labeled 602. I moved to open the door and twisted the handle. The door opened without any resistance and with a small amount of hesitation I stepped through the doorway and honestly…I was kind of impressed.

I must've stepped into the living room as I could see a glass coffee table sitting on top of a carpet grey carpet. The sofa had room for four people and there was also a lounge chair. Against the far east wall there was a decent sized screen which I assumed was this worlds version of television.

Towards the left of the Sofa I saw myself looking at Vale and all its lights through three sliding glass doors that went all the way from the floor to the ceiling connecting to a small balcony with some plants hanging in pots from the balcony railing.

As I stepped further into the apartment, I could see attached to the living room was a kitchenette with a stove, fridge, dishwasher, microwave and a couple of cupboards and shelves almost everything I could possibly need. Next to the kitchenette was a round table with four seats tucked in neatly I made a note to buy some cutlery and kitchen equipment as the shelves were all empty.

Moving further into the apartment was a hallway which had three doors connected. The first door at the end of the hallway was the bedroom which I was quite happy with. It contained a king-sized bed at the far end of the room with nightstands and lamps on either side. I also had a large wardrobe which looked quite empty seeing as I had nothing to put in it yet the bed was firm but not overly so, it was good enough for me at this point although I needed more pillows. I always loved having lots of pillows around me.

Next I discovered the bathroom and man was I happy. I had a bath tub with a shower in it so If I wanted to, I could just have a bath and wind down which I was excited about. Furthermore, there was also a sink, mirror and I had a couple of towels hanging up on a rack.

In the final room directly across from the bathroom I found that it was a little boiler/utility room with a dryer, dishwasher and hot water-boiler. There was also a spare mattress and some cleaning equipment stacked against the far wall.

Overall, I was extremely pleased with this place. Something like this back home would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars maybe even to the millions as the apartment was fully furnished but one minor complaint that I had was how monotonous the colour scheme of this was, everything was grey. The walls, the bed sheets the carpet…it was just so spartan and bland I needed to buy some paintings or something of the sort to spice the place up a bit but right now I had other things I still had to deal with

Sitting down on the sofa I continued looking at the resident notifications that were living in the corner of my field of view. Before eventually I decided on getting on with more progression and checking my level up rewards.

**[Notice: You have leveled up to level 6 congratulations!]**

**[You have received an item: 800 Lien]**

**[You have received an item: Green key]**

**[You have received 10 stat points]**

"Oh, so nothing really new or interesting on the level six but hey 800 Lien is always nice and another green key? Damn I'm stacking up on these things" I could finally start vocalizing my thoughts now that there's no one else here.

Finally, the last reward comes through.

**[Notice: You have leveled up to level 7 congratulations!]**

**[You have received an item: 1600 Lien]**

**[You have received an item: Travelers Map]**

**[The Opportunity to gain a source of income has appeared]**

**[Please choose one of the Professions below]**

**[Sandwich & Coffee bar owner]**

**[Ramen bar owner]**

**[Italian Restaurant owner]**

**[You have earned 10 stat points]**

"Wait…a proper job? That's weird, of all the things I expected it wasn't that, but on the off hand an actual job might be nice. Going around killing things for money doesn't exactly sounds like it'll be fun all the time."

I was about to make my decision before stopping myself realizing that this was probably important and I should probably take the time to learn a bit more about what the Job's will probably require me to do. Last thing I want to do is dive head first into a job and just have that crash and burn around me. So I move on, and leave the choice for now and reap the other rewards.

I picked up the blank sheet of paper that was sitting by my feet it's about A3 sized and its empty but the moment I touched it a square appeared in the bottom left hand corner of my vision.

**[Notice: You have unlocked the Travelers map]**

**[Travelers map – Map fills out as you explore the world]**

**[Points of interest will be highlighted – Enemies will be highlighted – Allies will be highlighted]**

**[Your mini-map will always lock onto your position but it's view can be obstructed]**

I smiled with content as immediately the area around me on the map appeared and I could see exclamation marks pop un in the general vicinity.

With all the leveling done I stood up to head to the bathroom as I need to take a leak and a nice long hot shower but just as I'm taking off my shirt a notification pops up and it's one that sadly I forgot about

*ding*

**[Your body is a temple]**

**[Keeping fit is the key to survival]**

**[Run 8 km's: 0/8]**

**[Do 100 pushups: 100/100]**

**[Do 150 Squats: 150/150]**

**[Do 150 pullups: 150/150]**

**[! Failure to complete quests in 02:00:00 will result in a punishment!]**

"heh…eight k's in two hours? Child's play" and I put my shirt back on and made my way out of the apartment building and took off down the hill back into vale to complete the 8km run. I wonder how I ever failed this mission the first time, it's really not that tough at all and as I am running in the city, I didn't notice the shadowy figure dash across the rooftops above me…

* * *

3rd person POV

* * *

Blake Belladonna was dashing across the rooftops with one hand clutching her abdomen trying to stem the blood that was pouring out. Normally one's aura would protect them from gun shots but Blake's had been shattered in a fight she was just in with some White Fang grunts and she was overwhelmed by the gunfire

Blake grunted as she looked for a place to hide, anywhere that could get here away from her pursuers, open windows, doors left a tiny bit astray or areas without streetlamps, any of those would work for her. As the cat faunus continued scanning through the darkness she spotted a balcony that had a door that was left open with a tiny gap. Most people in this area locked their doors and windows at this time as the area wasn't the safest but clearly this person forgot to lock the door, the lights in the apartment were off so she assumed whoever was in there was either gone or asleep.

With renewed vigor and a target in mind Blake picked up her pace and started moving even faster towards the apartment complex. When she did finally reach the building however, she discovered one problem.

Blake tried using her semblance to get her up the side of the apartment complex but realized she didn't have enough aura for her to push the use of her semblance instead Blake had to do this the old-fashioned way and started scaling the side of the building using other balconies and her sword

Gambol Shroud as footholds and handholds to climb up the side of the building. It was difficult with the wound in her abdomen and blood coating one of her hands but she was determined to escape.

Eventually Blake reached the sixth flour and turned around to check for any sign of her White Fang pursuers and she found none. With her last ounce of strength Blake stood up and slipped through the gap in the door closing it behind her and entering the apartment not caring about the blood now pooling on the floor.

Making her way over to the sofa in the middle of the room Blake collapsed in the right onto the soft pillows and decided she was too tired to care if anyone found her so long as it wasn't the White Fang and as Blake lay there on the sofa letting her aura regenerate, she slowly drifted off into sleep blissfully unaware of just how much she had ruined this poor persons sofa.

She could worry about that when she woke up.

* * *

**That's all folks. Thanks for reading and I hope to see you guys again soon. Also, Blake might seem a little OOCish with the running instead of fighting and finding a random apartment instead of hiding in an alley like her real character probably would but hey Plot advancement, right?**

**Once again leave a review of what I could do better or suggestions as I always find pleasure in reading them. **

**-RoyalMD signing off.**


	7. Weakness

**Hey guys RoyalMD here and I am back with a new chapter!**

**Thanks for all the reviews, PM's and ideas you have all thrown my way I really do appreciate them!**

**A couple of important quick notes that might change the dynamic of the story for some of you as I might try writing this chapter in the 3****RD**** person as some of you have said that first person switched and internalization of Matt's ideas is annoying so that'll be different.**

**Italics in quotations mean that someone is thinking what is said in between the quotations**

**Another thing I would like to address is that any discrepancies in my stories please just PM me about them and I will try to somehow create a situation in the following chapter that addresses that issue. The last thing I want is Matt doing something only for that to not coincide with what I have written in previous chapters.**

**One more thing in regards to the internal rambling (and external). Matt is a Semi-S/I and one of the things I have a very bad habit of doing is over analysing things and rambling to myself in my head and out loud, sometimes to the point where I make myself look like an idiot in real life as I just casually walk down the street and talk to myself. Some people might think that is a sign of split-personality disorder, I just think it's one of the traits that makes me well…me. I will try to cut down on the rambling and internalization a bit but I want to keep that as a part of Matt. His constant rambling allows for me to develop ideas inside his head, not my own.**

**Next chapter is where Matt finally starts getting his shit together after realizing just how unready he is for the world of Remnant and RWBY.**

**Finally, I hope you all enjoy the new chapter. **

**I DON'T OWN RWBY. RWBY IS OWNED BY ROOSTERTEETH, I ONLY CLAIM CREDIT FOR ANY OC'S IN THE STORY.**

* * *

**[Name: Matthew ?]**

**[Age: 18]**

**[Job: Novice Rogue]**

**[Level: {7}]**

**[Experience Points: 660/1000]**

**[Attribute points available: 2]**

**[Skill points available: 50]**

**[Active abilities: None]**

**[Passive abilities: Aura boost, Vital Strike, Vanish, Scholar]**

**[Health Points: 100/100]**

**[Aura Points: 50/50]**

**[Strength: 5]**

**[Constitution: 10]**

**[Defense: 10]**

**[Intelligence: 11]**

**[Wisdom: 5]**

**[Dexterity: 10]**

**[Tenacity: 5]**

* * *

Matt plopped down onto a bench on the walk home after completing his 8km run and was starting to feel it. 8km's might not have sounded like a lot but Matt was out of shape he just wasn't fit enough for this kind of thing

**[Your body is a temple]**

**[Quest completed: Keeping fit is the key to survival]**

**[Rewards: Minor restoration potion and 100 EXP]**

"Wow I really need to work on that" he panted as he put his head back and looked up at the notification that appeared in front of his face. Matt dismissed the notification and just tried to relax and let himself calm down.

'_God when was the last time I had done exercise' _he thought to himself contemplating about why he had ever let himself get so unfit.

As he was sitting enjoying the cool night air a clear glass sphere the size of a tennis ball materialized in his hand. He looked around to make sure no one was watching before holding the orb up to eye level and examined it. The orb was half full containing a light green viscous liquid that resembled slime and he wondered what it was before a note popped up explaining the purpose of the orb.

**[Minor restoration potion]**

**[Restores 10 HP and 20 AP]**

**[Provides the effect: Recently Healed]**

**[To use the potion, crush the orb in your hand]**

"I've never seen a potion like this before**" **he said to himself

Matt realizing how tired he was decided if there was ever a when wanted to use the restoration potion now would be it. He gripped the orb tightly in his hand and slowly started to squeeze for he had a fear of the glass shattering and cutting himself. Rationally speaking he knew his aura would protect himself but at the same time it was in human nature to fear pain, people who didn't were probably masochists.

He continued squeezing at an ever so slow pace until finally he was rewarded with the sound of shattering glass. The shards of glass and the remains of the container that held the liquid vanished from thin air almost immediately after the glass broke leaving his hand undamaged, he looked at the green covering his hand for a second and wondering what was supposed to happen now. Matt wasn't ready for the pain that came next.

Matt collapsed onto the road in pain and agony as the green liquid covered his hand and started seeping into him. Under nails, through pores and whatever other entrances the liquid could find almost as if it was a sentient being trying to invade his body.

Matt gripped his arm yelling out in pain trying to pull the green liquid off, it felt to him like molten iron was coursing through the veins in his hands. He didn't remember the last time he felt so much pain, even the crash he couldn't really feel as he lost most of his feeling the moment, he hit the ground. He was on his knees shaking as his hand tensed up but as soon as the pain started a couple of seconds later it was over.

Matt put his back against the edge of the bench that he had just fallen off, looking around to make sure that nobody saw or heard him before. Cradling his hand. He could still feel some lingering pain however it mostly seemed to have faded. While he was trying to catch his breath, a new message popped up on his screen

**[Effect gained: Recently Healed]**

**[All healing effects are reduced by 75% for the next 30 minutes]**

**[You feel energized]**

Matt stood up trying to regain his balance before realizing how good he felt. His hand was still a tiny bit numb but he felt full of energy, he could probably do the daily quest again right now if he so wished but he was fully against that idea as he just wanted to sit down and relax, it had been a long day and he wanted a good night's sleep but for now he was content just looking at the shattered moon again coming up with even more strange theories as to what had happened, Matt was probably sitting there for five minutes before he heard rapid footsteps coming up behind him.

When Matt turned around it was that same girl that he saw the previous night with her fiery red hair and emerald eyes running towards him and he was wondering why exactly she was running towards him.

* * *

Pyrrha wasn't normally one to go wondering around this late at night but she needed some time to clear her head, she couldn't deny it. She was nervous and scared. HER. Pyrrha Nikos. 4-time winner of the Mistral regional tournament and SHE was nervous about going to a new school. That's why when she heard a scream of utter pain and agony, she rushed to the source to try and help.

Pyrrha had helped people on the streets before but most of those were smaller things. Helping people that have fallen over, doing some heavy lifting for the occasional old person but she never wanted to get too involved as her followers were everywhere and she hated the attention, that's why she turned over a new leaf and chose to go to beacon but a scream of this much pain was one she couldn't ignore, someone was in trouble and they clearly needed help so she drew Miló and kept on moving.

Pyrrha pumped her feet faster and faster to get to the source of the sound which she deducted was in the park she was approaching however on her arrival she saw the same boy she bumped into the other night sitting on a bench in a park staring up at the moon looking perfectly fine, his hair was a bit disheveled and he had some sweat on his brow but that was all she could see that was off. He turned towards her as she slowed down on her approach and they both stared at each other.

Pyrrha chose to break the awkward silence first.

"Um was that you screaming?" she asked cautiously and she heard him chuckle.

"Yeah sorry that was me, I hope I didn't scare you too much" he responded.

"It didn't scare me that much" she winced as she said this trying to hide how bad it really was.

"Oh, that bad huh?" he looked down at the ground with an apologetic smile "Sorry about that but yea, everything is all right."

"Alright, if you are sure everything is fine," Pyrrha says as she puts Miló back on her back.

"That just means that I don't have to worry about helping you fight anything" Pyrrha continues.

"Well this seems like a good time to head back home, thanks for coming to check miss?" he asks sticking his hand out.

"Pyrrha. Pyrrha Nikos" Pyrrha stood there waiting to see the man's reaction.

"Pyrrha…that's a lovely name, it really fits you" she looks away blushing a little bit '_so he doesn't know' _she thinks to herself.

"Thank you" she responds in tone.

"Well I'm Matthew or just call me Matt for short" the man says back to her.

"Well, Matt." she says sticking her hand out to grasp his in a shake "I believe this could be the start of a great friendship". Pyrrha Shakes his hand twice before letting go and turning around to walk away

"I hope to see you soon!" she calls back towards Matt who's standing there watching her go.

"Yeah! I'll see ya around" and he turns away as well. Pyrrha walks back into the streets of Vale heading home, happy she has made a new friend tonight, one who doesn't know of her origins and one who she hopes will treat her like a normal person.

* * *

"Yeah! I'll see you around" Matt calls out before tearing his gaze from Pyrrha's '_Her eyes though'_ and he can't help but smile like a child as he thinks about her warm smile.

"Welp guess It's probably time I head back home and Matt starts to walk feeling much better than he did five minutes ago. Whether it was because of his encounter with Pyrrha or the potions after affects he just felt good. He was walking through the quiet streets of vale internally monologuing to himself a new list of things he had to do. List's had always helped him keep his head clear.

'_For a start I should probably write this down somewhere, question is where?' _Matt quickly scanned through his pockets to try and find anything he could write on but sadly he left the notepad and pen he stole from the hotel back at his room with the rest of his stuff.

'_Ah what the hell I can just remember it for now'_

'_First things first I need to lean how those skill books work. I didn't get the chance to have a look at it. Secondly, I need to get some weapons for myself. Third I need to pick up one of those jobs that the system gave me. I also need to do something with these all these damn skill points. Oh yea I need to buy some groceries and other essentials'_

Matt was considering if he had forgotten anything else that he might need but he was knocked out of his stupor when he started approaching his apartment building and saw people with white masks and guns outside the main lobby doors. He got even more surprised when he saw them rushing up the stairs almost as if they were hunting for something.

Matt knew this probably wasn't his business, he had no experience fighting people with guns. He knew some boxing from his previous life but he never trained to the point of seriousness that he could fight to save is life if he needed to and all he had was a dagger in his pocket and the clothes on his body. His moral compass however didn't care. If someone was about to die and he hadn't done anything to help them he would feel absolutely terrible.

'_Wait didn't that god say about finding my purpose in this life? Is this the chance I've been waiting for?'_

Matt contemplated the idea that it was destiny, that he was given this chance to maybe save someone or something. He realized that this was exactly what the god had been talking about.

With his mind made up and his resolved steeled he went to follow the men.

Matt's first thought open seeing what floor they stopped at wasn't necessarily a good one.

'_Of course, its floor fucking six'. _With a quiet sigh he peaked his head out of the stairwell to spot which room they were in.

Down the far end of the hallway he saw them kick open a door and his face contorted into one of anger when he realized it was his door and his vision went red.

'_Oh those sons of bitches. It's definitely my business now'_

A notification popped up signifying that this was in fact an event related to his being.

**[New quest identified: A friend in need]**

**[Quest description: You have come home only to find suspicious people breaking into your apartment. Find out what is going in your new home and put a stop to it]**

**[Reward: 300 XP, 2 x Minor restoration Potions, 500 Lien, Random Skill book]**

**[Quest cannot be declined]**

With the notification gone Matt figured it was time to put his game face on. He waited in the corridor for a couple of minutes until everyone had disappeared into the apartment before advancing forward as quietly as possible. Matt had no clue how good these guys were and for all intents and purposes they could have been some kind of black-ops team that had hearing devices scattered around the hallway or they could just be some common street thugs. Matt however was taking no chances with this and decided to be as cautious as possible.

As Matt got closer and closer to the room and was leaning against the outside next to the doorframe, he heard whispers coming from inside.

"Wha…shoul…we…do…ith…her?"

"Ada….her…alive"

Matt couldn't make everything out as he was listening from around the corner but whatever it was it didn't sound good to him.

He stuck his head into the doorway and on his balcony, he could see one person with a white mask sitting on their head smoking a cigarette obviously on their phone with someone.

Matt wasn't the most rational person in the world so when he crouched down and sprinted at the person on the balcony, he didn't bother checking for anyone else. One less person out of his apartment was all the better for him

The man turned around just in time to see Matt shoulder barge him

"What the fu…?" The man didn't get to say anymore as Matt grabbed him by the legs while he was stunned and lifted him up off the balcony.

The man screamed all the way down to the bottom until he stopped. Until the red pooled around the back of his head and his brain matter was splattered all over the floor. Matt didn't know what he expected to happen but it sure wasn't that.

'_Holy shit I may have just killed a man, I thought he might have had aura or something, wait does aura even protect you from a fall?' _Matt was lost looking over the balcony railing at the body below thinking about what he just did. So lost in his thoughts in fact he didn't hear the yells coming from the two other occupants of the apartment, both with the same masks. He didn't realize what was happening until one of the assailants grabbed him by the shoulder, turned him around and slugged him with one of the hardest right hooks Matt had ever seen.

He stumbled on the balcony losing his balance and leaned against the railing before then proceeding to be hit with a left hook by the assaulter before he took another punch…and another…and another, it got so bad for Matt that the system even popped up with a notification

**[Warning! Aura Levels at Critical 5/50]**

It wouldn't be long until his aura broke, the next punch would probably do it for him and then his body would be at the full mercy of the man raining down punches on him.

**[Warning! Aura Levels empty! 0/50]**

* * *

Left. Right. Left. Right. Matt was losing feeling in his face and body now and he could feel the blood running down his face from the multiple abrasions left by the man's knuckles after what felt like a lifetime for Matt the punches finally stopped. He could only see through one eye now as his left was so badly bruised, he couldn't open it, his vision was also tinted red due to the copious amounts of blood flowing down his face. He was pretty sure he had a concussion and he couldn't hear properly in both ears.

Matt could briefly see the obsidian dagger loose on the floor next to him was picked up and he wondered what was about to happen before a stabbing pain went through his left thigh as the dagger was driven all the way through straight to the hilt. Matt couldn't even scream in pain as he was too tired, all he wanted to do now was just sleep. This wouldn't have been the first time he died but he was still scared as to what would happen.

He just wasn't ready for this kind of thing yet. He had no idea how to fight, he didn't have proper training, he was in a new world and he was scared. God how he wished he could be back home again with his friends and family. They weren't always the best and he had a rocky relationship at best but that family was his and he did believe that they loved him even if they could never show it to each other. Here in Vale he was alone, with no one to help or hear him scream. He would die as he lived. Alone.

'_Huh. Two days into my new life and I've already managed to fuck it up. Give yourself a pat on the back Matt, you fucking genius.'_

As Matt slowly started to drift off into the dream world, he saw one last notification pop up

**[New quest identified: Will of Steel, Heart of Ice]**

**[Quest description: A shocking realization ha-**

Matt couldn't keep his eyes open to read the rest of it any longer and he rested his head back against the balcony railing hoping he would wake up somewhere nicer.

* * *

Blake Belladonna was in a state of shock. She woke up to see herself on the sofa she collapsed on with two White Fang lieutenants looking down on her. She quickly squinted her eyes shut again and prayed they didn't see her waking up.

The wound in her stomach had mostly healed and her aura was steadily increasing again. She could hear the White Fang talking about what they were going to do with her and when she heard the mention of Adam's name her heart skipped a beat. Adam. God that son a bitch. She hated him. She didn't understand where the boy she used to love had gone, all that time ago she would have followed him to the ends of the world but now she wanted nothing to do with the monster he had become.

She was thinking of how she was going to get out of the predicament she had found herself in before she heard yelling from coming behind her on the sofa. She heard the footsteps of both the lieutenants moving away from her and dared to have a look at what was going on and she gasped.

She just managed to get a glimpse of the moment Matt threw the White Fang grunt on the balcony off of the side and over the railing. Her eyes widened when she remembered how high up she climbed and realized that no one without aura could survive that fall and she came to the conclusion that the person on the balcony had just killed the grunt.

A small part of her Fauns mind was screaming at her to tear the man apart for hurting another Fauns before she remembered he was Fang and had tried to kill her. Blake didn't get to think about it anymore as one of the Lieutenants, the one who was a bull Faunus spun the man around and decked him right across the face.

Blake winced again as she saw the man get knocked against the balcony before he took another punch knocking him down and Blake continued to spectate as the punches didn't stop. The man's face was being rocked backwards and forwards and she could start to see blood forming across his brow and flowing out of his mouth.

She tried to formulate a plan but she couldn't risk doing anything less on the White Fang decided to use the man as some form of leverage. Yes, that was the best plan she could come up with at the time, she would wait it out until they were done with him and then spring her trap so she didn't run the risk of injuring the man.

Blake slowly lowered her hand to Gambol Shroud and kept on peaking from over the top of the sofa as the man had his face beaten bloody. She couldn't help but feel guilty watching the man get beaten to a pulp as she just sat there and watched but she couldn't afford to risk his life any further. Hopefully the Fang would see how bad killing a human would be and they would let him live. Hopefully.

After what felt like ages the beatings finally stopped and Blake readied herself for when the two men came back to deal with her. Blake almost vomited when she saw the bull Faunus move away from the man that he had beaten allowing her to see the full extent to the damage of the mans face and she was horrified. She couldn't even see his skin tone anymore as his entire face was just a gory mess of red and purple, she became even more worried when she saw the lieutenant pick up a dagger off the floor and rammed it straight through the man's thigh.

Blake knew now the man was going to bleed out and die if she didn't do anything to help him.

Gambol Shroud was taken out of its sheath and she held it at the ready. She knew the Lieutenants didn't have aura or else she would have felt it earlier. She heard the footsteps approaching her and the two White Fang talking.

"You should have let me kill him"

"That would have caused way too much trouble, we'd have most of the Huntress' and Huntsmen bearing down on us if we killed a human"

"Yea but what about Diego? No way did he survive that fall"

"I've already called for some backup to come and get him somewhere safe"

"Whatever lets just get the girl and get back to Taurus"

Blake slowed down her breathing and listened very carefully. Thank god for her cat ears. Just as the White Fang members reached the sofa, she sprung up over the top of it and punched the bull faunus straight in the face knocking him into a dining chair where he tripped and fell, out cold.

Blake needed to remember that these were just normal people and her aura enhanced attacks would hurt them a lot if she wasn't careful. The second Faunus a tiger drew a falchion out of its scabbard and judging from how confidently he held it she knew he meant business

"Well if Adams bitch isn't awake finally, have a nice nap? I think you have something that belongs to me" He indicated the falchion towards where Blake had gotten shot and was taunting her.

Blake narrowed her eyes and growled a little before dashing towards the tiger with Gambol Shroud out. The Faunus deflected her slash with a parry and brought his fist at her face attempting to punch her while the swords they had were locked together.

Blake sprung backwards cautiously so not to hit the ceiling or any of the furniture around her. The tiger followed suit and rushed forwards bringing his falchion down in an overhead cleave but missed as Blake easily side-stepped the strike. She trained with Adam; no way was some mere auraless grunt taking her down.

The tiger Faunus also growled as he couldn't stop the momentum of the swing and the jarring impact of the falchion hitting the ground sent vibrations up his arm. He tried to rip the falchion free of the floor but it was useless as the moment the falchion impacted itself Blake dashed to the side of him and sliced the ligament along the backs of his legs just behind the knees. The tiger yelled out in pain as he collapsed on the floor his legs no longer able to support his weight

"Yo…you bitch" he managed to grunt out from the ground clearly in agony. Blake ended the short fight with a swift quick to the man's head knocking him out as well.

Blake sighed and looked around briefly as she surveyed the damage that had been done to the apartment and realized it was going to costs a boatload of lien to replace. She gasped as she remembered the man out on the balcony.

She rushed over to his side being careful not to slip on the slick blood that was pooling on the floor.

She knelt down next to him and carefully lifted his head up. His eyes were closed and she placed her fingers on his neck. She could feel a pulse but it was very feint. It was so weak that she noticed that almost no more blood was actually being pushed out of his wounds. His body was shutting down and he needed help. Fast.

"HELP! SOMEONE HELP!" Blake cried out hoping someone from the neighboring apartments would aid her. Not ten seconds later a blonde-haired woman with glasses and a riding crop, dressed in a night gown came rushing in through the door before, she stopped in her tracks looking down at the blood and the body before her with Blake crouched over it.

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE CALL SOMEONE!" Blake yelled at the women.

She fumbled with her scroll for a couple of seconds before finally dialing in Vale emergency services and steeling herself her tone hardening.

"Yes hello? Vale emergency services? I need an emergency bullhead right now…Straight away bring the police as well…Track my scrolls location…Make it fast…Thank you."

The women put her scroll back in the pocket before moving over to Blake.

"We need to get him stabilized, bring him to his bed I'll look for anything we can use to clean his wounds."

Blake picked up the man before quickly kicking open the doors of the apartment looking for his bedroom. When she kicked open the third door and eventually found the bedroom, she placed him down on the bed not caring that the pillows like the sofa and floor outside had started to stain red.

"I'm sorry, please don't die, I'm sorry" where the only things Blake could whisper as she held the man's hand while he was laying there unresponding.

If he died this was on her, after all she could have jumped into the fight much earlier or maybe she could have done something, anything. Her thoughts were a mess right now, she just hoped she wouldn't have someone's death on her consciousness anytime soon.

The blond woman came storming through the main door abut seconds later and she was carrying a wet cloth in her hand. And knelt down next to Blake and started wiping away at the blood on his face

"I've tied up the White Fang outside all I need you to do now is clean up that blood so the doctors can have a proper look at him when they get here, if he's to gory for them to even see the wounds how are they supposed to treat him?" Blake nodded mutely only half listening to the woman's words.

After seeing Blake's nod the woman went back to do whatever else she was doing in the living room. Blake started to wipe away at the blood on the mans face and arms and as she was cleaning him, she felt a flicker from him.

She widened her eyes when she realized he had an aura. One idea sprung forward in Blake's mind and it could go very good or very bad. If this worked the man would no doubt survive. With her mind set on this idea she picked up the man's left hand and started channeling her aura praying to the gods of Remnant that he would be ok.

* * *

**End of chapter. Only took me two weeks of writing this time. New Record.**

**Yea apologies it took so long again. I had lots of Ideas I wanted to get out and lots of deleting later this was the product. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope you enjoyed reading about how Matt got his ass handed to him on a silver platter. **

**I wanted to have Matt get beaten up so that he could realize just how weak he was which would give him an incentive to train and get stronger, also the moment of realization about how alone he is will also be important as his character develops.**

**I PROMISE the next chapter will start to have Matt and Blake stuff together with more fluff and less morbid Matt almost dying kinda shit.**

**Also in regards to Pyrrha I'm keeping my cards close to my chest. If you think you have an idea what her involvement will be just throw me a PM and I'll give you some hints. **

**Finally in regards to Matt's character sheet let me know if you also want me to include his inventory (I.e. the green keys, gun parts etc.)**

**Thanks for reading**


	8. Fishy business

**Hi again and thanks for tuning In to the of Remnant.**

**I noticed a couple of grammar mistakes last chapter and I apologize for that. Proofreading is much harder than it sounds when you are also the writer so once again, I would like to say sorry for any grammar mistakes and writing mistakes (i.e. spelling and spacing) that I have made and hope it doesn't distract from my writing too much. After this Chapter I am going to be taking a bit longer to write my next chapter of the story so I can also go through and edit older chapters to make sure all the writing and grammar is correct in those as well. **

**Once again thanks for all the PM's, I really appreciate it when you guys take time out of your days to send messages and read my story. It does mean a lot to me as someone who enjoys writing stories also, I will now be including Matt's inventory at the start of the story as a way to keep track of what he owns. **

**Also, quick warning. There is a lot about cooking later in this chapter the reason being I love cooking and thus Matt loves cooking. It is one of the things I very much enjoy in life. You can always experiment and change something making no two dishes the same. I wanted to make Blake enjoy cooking (but just fish) as she has to have learnt how to somewhere in order to survive. I also wanted to give them something happy they could relate to. Not just "**_**oh we are both dead inside after our worlds were shattered." Let's come together and be the happies couple.**_** If you want that to happen. Tough. That's not how relationships work, especially with someone of Blake's Character.**

**Finally. Please do tell me if you want me to write chapters that are about this length or if you would prefer shorter chapters but more regular uploading (I personally prefer this as it gives me more time to refine ideas)**

**Remember to Fav, Follow and review and thanks for reading!**

**Note: I DO NOT OWN RWBY, IT IS THE PROPERTY OF ROOSTERTEETH AND THEM ALONE. I ONLY CLAIM CREDIT FOR ALL OC'S IN THE STORY**

* * *

**[Name: Matthew ?]**

**[Age: 18]**

**[Job: Novice Rogue]**

**[Level: {7}]**

**[Experience Points: 660/1000]**

**[Attribute points available: 2]**

**[Stat points available: 50]**

**[Active abilities: None]**

**[Passive abilities: Aura boost, Vital Strike, Vanish, Scholar]**

**[Health Points: 5/100]**

**[Aura Points: 0/50]**

**[Strength: 5]**

**[Constitution: 10]**

**[Defense: 10]**

**[Intelligence: 11]**

**[Wisdom: 5]**

**[Dexterity: 10]**

**[Tenacity: 5]**

* * *

**[Items]**

**[Inventory Backpack – A backpack that transports items into your inventory]**

**[Travelers Map – A minimap that uncovers areas as you explore them]**

**[One handed guns skillbook – skillbook in the art of one-handed gunslinging]**

**[Armour Blueprints – used to construct one piece of armour provided you own the components]**

**[House key – Key to apartment 626 in Vale heights]**

**[Obsidian dagger – A dagger made from some of the darkest metal. It is currently stuck in Matt's leg]**

**[Green key x3 - ?]**

**[Pistol components x5 – Parts of a pistol; collect 15 to assemble the weapon]**

**[5900 Lien – Remnants common currency]**

* * *

Matt's body lay in suspension in a familiar white void. He was completely out of it after being beaten to what was almost his death. His body left behind. His conscious ripped from him. His mind and soul were here in the emptiness with him but he wasn't aware of that.

In the familiar white void with him were two crystalline figures who conversed with each other about the fate of the human boy that lay in front of them.

"**He wasn't ready for Remnant; he had no training."**

"**His spirit was strong and his fortitude is admirable"**

"**That doesn't mean you can just pluck him from whence he came and dump him in an unfamiliar world"**

"**I have been assisting him"**

"**Not enough it seems"**

One of the crystalline humanoids floated away from the other and pinched Matt's face in between its two fingers and turned his head left and right, examining the bruising and cuts.

"**They really gave it to him, didn't they?" **the figure above Matt asked.

"**Yes, indeed they did, I regret not giving him more time to grow. Tis a shame that lady fate refused my offer to let him join us in the aether"**

"**He will join us soon but right now Remnant needs him. Ozma needs him"**

"**The queen will do everything in her power to stop him, you are aware?"**

"**He needs to grow stronger"**

"**Then let him, support him and nurture him."**

"**He will become a bulwark against the darkness"**

"**He will be a titan on the battlefield"**

"**He will slaughter those who stand against him"**

"**He will be cold"**

"**Ruthless"**

"**Merciless"**

"**He will be the final piece of the puzzle"**

"**He will now be the dawn that comes tomorrow"**

"**He will be known as Apricitas for his light will never be smothered again"**

"**With a heart of ice, he will push back the tide of evil, I will make it so."**

"**Brother, just remember that we must let him grow" **One of the figures cautioned to the other

"**Yes, he will become strong in due time"**

"**Shall we let his training commence?"**

"**I believe we should"**

Both figures floated over to where Matt was still laying in the void his body still motionless. Both of the celestial beings reached out and they placed their hands over Matt's heart before pushing his chest down and then he was falling.

Falling down into the white abyss that wasn't ever dark or light. Falling until he eventually reached the bottom and then, Matt's eyes opened.

* * *

The first thing Matt noticed when he opened his eyes to the world around him was how bright everything was. He had to close his eyes almost immediately after trying to open them fully as it was just too much for him all at once. He slowly started to try and blink away the brightness and he could feel his vision starting to return. After about 30 seconds of blinking eventually, he opened his eyes and had a proper look at where he was.

Matt was surprised to find himself looking around the inside of a hospital room before vaguely remembering the events that got him here. In his mind, the last thing he could recall was pushing the guy off the balcony and then being decked. He couldn't remember much after that everything was fuzzy.

Matt suddenly winced as a sharp pain spread in his brain and he had to lay back down on the soft pillows before sighing.

'_Maybe I'm thinking too hard, I probably just need more rest'. _Matt closed his eyes again trying to fall back asleep for some more rest but the hospital room was too bright for that and he was feeling too tired to do anything about that.

One thing that confused Matt, however, was despite the pain in his head and the occasional throbbing from his thigh, he didn't feel any worse for wear. He just felt a dull aching in place of where he should have been feeling well…anything. Surely if something was bad enough to warrant him ending up in a hospital bed something must have happened to him. Right?

As Matt continued to ponder the little things in life a notification popped up

'_Oh right, I forgot about that' _Matt wondered what it could be telling him now, he hoped it wasn't the daily quest because he was 90% sure he missed it if he had been out for more than a day and the last thing that he wanted right now was to be chased by some Boartusks or any other kind of Grimm for that matter.

Matt slowly cracked one eye open to look at the notification he had just received.

**[New Quest identified: Will of Steel, Heart of Ice]**

**[Quest description: A shocking realization has been made by you. You aren't ready for this world and its challenges and you aren't getting strong enough fast enough. You will be given a choice. Accept the extra training but at a high cost or continue on with your mediocre being]**

**[Accept quest? Y / N]**

**[On Acceptance all other quests will be blocked]**

**[Rewards: ERROR]**

"Wait, an error?" Matt mumbles quietly to himself. He had never seen anything like this before, normally the system would update itself if anything went wrong or he spotted any discrepancies but this time the system wasn't changing.

'_Great…another big decision to be made. I haven't even figured out what fucking job I want yet let alone whether or not I want to become a one punch man knockoff and what's this high cost? It better not be like my soul or anything like that. That would just suck shit.' _Matt spent a good ten minutes pondering the decision of whether or not to accept the quest that he had been offered. If he said no, he had no clue what would happen. Would he be punished? He was pretty sure he missed the daily quest.

Matt didn't have to think much after that choice. He was 90 per cent sure that if he had to do the daily quest now, he would die. That was enough to make his stomach do a flip, he wasn't ready to die yet. He had just had a near-death experience and he didn't want it to happen again.

With his mind made up made resented himself to become a slave of the system once again.

"Accept." Little did Matt know how that single word shifted the paradigm of Remnant as everyone knew it.

* * *

From her castle of darkness, a woman of pale white hair and blood-red irises, shivered as a horrible coldness washed over her.

"How interesting…It seems you have found a new toy Ozpin." Salem laughed to herself as she felt the wave once again and wondered just how much power whatever Ozpin had found contained.

She would find this new vessel and break them. She proceeded to laugh even more wildly; she couldn't wait to see how things would change around here.

In response to her maniacal thoughts all the creatures of darkness. From the Sea Feilong's of the abyssal ocean to the wondering Goliaths that roamed the deserts of Vacuo. They all roared in sync up into the sky. A roaring in response to their Mistresses call. The younger Grimm would try and hunt the source of the disruptions too new to this world to think of anything else more rational.

The elder Grimm who had eons of experience would bide their time laying in wait for the time that their Mother of darkness would need their aid. Only then would they free themselves from their self-imposed exile and when they did. The hunt would begin.

* * *

High up in a clocktower placed at the center of one of the greatest huntsman academies of all time a coffee cup fell from a man's grip and shattered as it hit the floor and coffee spilt everywhere. The man stood stone still before slowly cranking his head towards his window looking out at the city of Vale.

The cold presence he just felt did not feel natural at all and was wondering if Salem had somehow sunk her claws into a new piece of the board and whatever this piece was. It was strong.

"Oz..Ozp…Ozpin…OZPIN!" Glynda Goodwitch snapped her hand in front of Ozpins face before he eventually turned around to look at her before Glynda flinched backwards at the cold masking stare that Ozpin had given her. He never spilt his coffee, ever. In her entire time working with him the only time she had ever seen him do that was when…well she couldn't even remember.

"Glynda." He whispered. "Do you feel that?" Ozpin said as he made his way over to a chessboard sitting on a table. The chessboard only held five pieces for now. A white king, a white rook, a white knight as well as a black queen and black king.

Glynda knew what this meant now.

"Something has changed in remnant" Ozpin walked around the table and opened a drawer before pulling out a box. Glynda was confused, she had assumed he would just grab another white or black chess piece. She had never seen this box before and why was Ozpin being so cryptic with her?

"I haven't felt power like this in so long" and he opened the box. What shocked Glynda is the chess piece inside of it. It was a queen, but it wasn't just any queen. It was made of the purest crystal Glynda had ever seen. The light caught it at an angle and it sparkled in his hands. It was probably worth more than most of the things she owned.

Ozpin put the piece down on tile E5. Right in the center _'Or as close to the center as one can get in chess' _Glynda thought and then he proceeded to leave it there before looking at her and saying something she new would change a lot here.

"There is a third player in the game now" he said to her just as the roar of hundreds of Grimm came from the emerald forest. Ozpin and Glynda both looked out the window, worry displayed clearly on their faces.

* * *

Matt didn't feel any different after accepting the quest. The quest notification just disappeared from view and he looked around expectantly as if he was waiting for something fantastically amazing to happen.

He felt a tiny twinge of disappointment when the only thing that appeared in his lap was a small locket. It was a small golden shield shaped locket with a silver sword running behind the shield and when he picked it up, he couldn't find any way to open it. It had a silver chain that would fit nicely around his neck and he contemplated putting it on.

Matt held it up to eye level and examined it for a little bit longer and he saw some words engraved onto the shield.

"Where there is light, there is darkness. Hm, that's pretty eerie." Matt lifted the locket up and put it around his and as soon as the metal of the pendant touched his chest Matt felt coldness spike through his heart and body. A coldness he never thought physically achievable. It was like someone had just picked him up thrown him into the arctic ocean and then proceeded to spear his heart with a giant icicle made of the dark blue ice that surrounded him.

Matt gasped struggling to breath as the coldness continued to spread. He willed his hands to move but they refused to listen to the commands he had given them. The coldness was seeping up his neck now until it reached his head and when it did his body erupted into a royal blue light.

When the light show ended Matt was back on the bed with complete control of his body again. He almost fell out of the bed he was feeling so faint.

"What…In…fucks name….was that?" Matt had a hard time vocalizing anything as his body still felt ice cold but not as bad as it was when he first put the locket on.

"And what the fuck are you?" Matt looked down to see where the locket was only to notice it was gone. Instead, a shield-shaped tattoo was placed above his heart. Matt put his hand against the tattoo only to notice it stung, meaning it was still fresh.

"Fucking magic" Matt sat up straighter and put his back against the headrest of the hospital bed before a notification appeared before him.

*ding*

**[Will of Steel, Heart of Ice]**

**[QUEST DESCRIPTION]**

**[You have accepted the challenge of a true warrior and you have recognized your faults. You will train to become a warrior so strong you will only have two enemies in the end. Hubris and Folly. You will listen to the rules laid out before you, less you are punished harshly]**

**[You will be discrete]**

**[No one will be allowed to know of your alternate life as a warrior]**

**[You will gain a body forged of blood and iron]**

**[You will be vigilant]**

**[For your name is now Matthew ****Apricitas****]**

**[WARNING! THIS QUEST HAS MULTIPLE OBJECTIVES]**

**[FAILURE TO MEET EVEN ONE WILL RESULT IN PUNISHMENT]**

**[ 1) Pick a job]**

**[ 2) Use your skill points: Current 0/50]**

**[ 3) Use your attribute points: Current 0/2]**

**[ 4) Learn the skill gunslinging]**

**[ 4) Clear one dungeon: Current 0/1]**

**[ 5) Deal with Blake Belladonna]**

**[TIME REMANING 48:00:00]**

**[You have received a new passive ability: Cold as ice]**

**[COLD AS ICE: Emotional Dampening on all emotions increased by 40%]**

"Timed quests…not again and what's this emotional dampening stuff? I hope that doesn't get too annoying or interfere with my life that much" Matt sighed and then as if things couldn't get any worse another notification appeared.

*ding*

**[Your body is a temple]**

**[Keeping fit is the key to survival]**

**[Run 20KM's 0/20]**

**[Do 200 pushups: 0/200]**

**[Do 400 Squats: 0/400]**

**[Do 200 pullups: 0/200]**

**[Completion of this quest will result in Stat Points and better body conditioning]**

**[! Failure to complete quests in 24:00:00 will result in a punishment!]**

"Fuck sake not again…Ok, I have to do this. As much as I'm going to hate this, I need to become stronger if I want to somehow protect people. I can start as soon as I'm discharged" Matt looked around the hospital bed for a buzzer of any kind that would indicate someone of his awakening.

He saw a red button on the side of the hospital bed which said nurse on it and with that in mind he pressed the button. A buzzing could be heard outside of his door and he assumed it had alerted someone to his current position so for now he just sat there and waited.

Not 30 seconds later someone came through the door in a white nurse's uniform.

"Hi! I'm your nurse, Kitsune" It was a girl in her late 20's I guessed and she looked cute, one thing that surprised me however was the foxtail that she had swaying behind her. She must have been a Faunus as well.

"Yeah hi, I'm Matt. Um, do you know when I can be discharged? I feel fantastic." As if to prove his point Matt stood up and stretched his arms with emphasis on how much he could move.

"I don't know sir when you were brought in, we didn't even think you were still alive. I'll go get the doctor and see what he thinks." The nurse frowned with displeasure at how active the patient was. She could swear that a couple of days ago his entire face was cut up and scratched.

Kitsune turned around before walking back out the door closing it behind her. Matt plopped back down onto the bed as she left content that he could get started on the quest already.

"Right. Stat points, I should probably stop hoarding those, I might save a few but for now I need to use most of them up" As Matt was talking to himself a new message from the system popped up.

*****ding*

**[You can now communicate with the system mentally]**

'_Oh rad' _Matt thought to himself.

'_Well then let's do this. Open stats' _Matt thought and next thing he knew a very familiar stat screen popped up in front of him

**[Name: Matthew ?]**

**[Age: 18]**

**[Job: Novice Rogue]**

**[Level: {7}]**

**[Experience Points: 660/1000]**

**[Attribute points available: 2]**

**[Stat points available: 50]**

**[Active abilities: None]**

**[Passive abilities: Aura boost, Vital Strike, Vanish, Scholar, Cold as ice]**

**[Health Points: 100/100]**

**[Aura Points: 50/50]**

**[Strength: 5]**

**[Constitution: 10]**

**[Defense: 10]**

**[Intelligence: 11]**

**[Wisdom: 5]**

**[Dexterity: 10]**

**[Tenacity: 5]**

'_Shit I've got a lot of stat points to use' _He said to himself

'_Right, first priority is strength then dexterity. Defence and constitution are important as well and wisdom and tenacity I don't know anything about.' _Matt was trying to take this as rationally as possible; he didn't want to just dump all his points into one thing only to realize he needed to be a jack of all trades. That's what he was aiming for.

'_I've got it. 10 points in strength, 5 in constitution, 5 in defense, 10 in dexterity, 5 in tenacity and 5 in wisdom, apply points!' _

A ding popped up with a new window to signify changes he had made to himself.

** [Health Points: 150/150]**

** [Aura Points: 75/75]**

** [Strength: 15] **

** [Constitution: 15] **

** [Defense: 15] **

** [Wisdom: 10] **

** [Dexterity: 20] **

** [Tenacity: 10] **

'_Alright!' _Matt was happy now he had more balanced stats. He specifically chose to save 10 points just in case he ever needed them in future for anything. He would save the attribute points as well because he didn't know what he wanted to do with them yet. He still had to think about what kind of weapon and fighting style would suit him best.

With nothing to do for now Matt realized the best thing he could do was get to work on the harder version of the daily quest and before he could stop himself, he was already on the ground doing pushups.

'_1...'_

'_2...'_

'_3…'_

_'Here we go again'_

* * *

'_200…'_

Matt rolled over off his stomach and just laid on the floor looking up at the ceiling. He was a bit out of breath and he had sweat rolling down his brow but 200 pushups really didn't feel so bad at all to him anymore whether it be due to the extra stat's he invested in or maybe because he felt more of a drive to do the quest than what he had a couple of days ago. It would remain a mystery for now as when the sun seemed to be reaching its peak in the day at lunch Kitsune finally returned with the doctor.

"Ah good day sir. I see you are up and well, tell me. How are you feeling after your…endeavor" the doctor asked Matt straight away cutting right to the point?

"Yeah doc I feel pretty good actually," Matt responded in kind, standing up off the floor he had been long for so long.

"If it suits you, I think I'd like to checkout now." The doctor brings one hand to his chin before giving Matt a quick once over before replying evenly.

"Well there's not much I can do if you want to leave, huntsmen aren't tied down by normal rules. Under normal circumstance, I would tell you to stay here for a few days longer but it also seems that your aura has helped with your healing." The doctor replied to Matt. He took a moment longer before the doctor said one last thing.

"You're free to go. Just make sure that next time you come in to see me you are in much better condition yes?"

"You got it." The doctor stepped out of the doorway and Matt started to leave.

As Matt made his way down the hall the doctor called out one last thing that confused Matt a bit.

"Make sure to say hi to that girlfriend of yours who kept visiting!" the doctor called out cheerfully.

'_Um…what?'_

* * *

The doctor turned to kitsune and sighed as Matt was walking away

"Those huntsmen drive me crazy sometimes" as the doctor raised his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

"I think I agree with ya doc. I know his eyes would definitely drive me crazy" Kitsune growled a bit while smiling. The doctor could only smirk at her response

"Kitsune, don't tell me you're going to start trying to seduce our patients?"

"No. You don't have to worry about that, but if that huntsman comes back in here, I want to be his nurse. Deal?" Kitsune stuck a hand out, waiting for the doctor to take it.

"If you get to be his nurse you aren't allowed to seduce any other patients correct?""yep!" Kitsune giggled.

Reluctantly the doctor shook her hand. '_I hope you don't get injured anymore. Oum bless your soul if you end up here again' _the doctor thought as he watched the retreating form of the huntsman.

* * *

'_So, the doctor called me a huntsman…wonder why he thought that? And who the hell is my girlfriend?' _These were the things that made Matt think as he was walking home. He had decided that after walking out of the hospital with just his jeans and a blood-stained t-shirt he needed some new clothes and possibly some armour if he was going to start taking this kind of thing seriously.

All Matt had to do now was find his way home. Easier said than done. He had only been on Remnant for a couple of days now and most of those he was unconscious for.

"Excuse me…"

"Pardon me…"

"Sir excuse me…"

Matt asked multiple people but none seem to know the place he was trying to describe to them. Finally, after a lot of asking he met someone who pointed him in the general direction of his apartment building.

He was relieved when he saw the familiar park, he had met Pyrrha at all those nights ago. "Hm… wonder how she's doing," Matt thought about this a little bit more before throwing into his brain filing cabinet. He had more important things that concerned him.

Matt trudged his way up the hill to his block before he opened the door to the apartment and took the stairs up to his room.

He was surprised when he saw that his door had been fixed and he was even more shocked when he opened the front door with his key to find his apartment in perfect and pristine condition. Clearly, someone had fixed it up and kept it in shape.

'_Could it have been this "girlfriend"?'_ Matt thought to himself.

"Whatever I just need to find my inventory pack and get to work."

Matt opened the door to his bedroom to find that like the rest of the apartment everything was clean and he couldn't see a speck of dust anywhere. It concerned him a tiny bit that someone else might have been in this apartment without him here but he didn't dwell on it too much. After all, he did have nothing here that could give away who he was. He left all the behind when he died the first time.

Matt found the black backpack hanging up inside his wardrobe and strapped it on before searching the apartment for a pen and paper. A shopping list would help. It would help him set his targets and goals, he tended to get side-tracked when shopping. He checked his inventory's lien balance and decided and saw that he had 5900 Lien. He wouldn't need all of that, he decided 5000 would easily be enough if a hotel room for a night only cost him 100 of that lien he could save that other 900 for something more useful

Matt quickly sat down at the dinner table at wrote up a list for himself that contained things he might need. The list went as such.

\- Food – Protein, Vegetables and some carbs.

\- Jeans

\- Shirt

\- Black hoodie/Jacket

\- Trousers

\- Any kind of armour I can find

\- Phone?

\- Drinks – Electrolytes.

Just because Matt wasn't fit in his previous life didn't mean he didn't know how to build muscle and take care of himself. He did score flying colours in his biology classes in school after all. He smiled smugly to himself as he remembered the looks on his friend's faces when they were all comparing grades and he told them about his A-Star. He missed them. His friends he meant, but he didn't feel as sad as he thought he would be feeling considering his whole predicament of everything.

'_That must be the emotional dampening.'_

With the list done Matt set out to get everything he needed. He would make more quest progress tonight. He would need a stable source of income and would need to use that skillbook he had but that could all wait. He was hungry

* * *

It was night time when Matt finally started the walk home. He had spent most of the day in Vale's central mall. There was a large supermarket in the mall where he got all his grocery and food shopping done. If Matt could stay one thing about the supermarket it would be that it was this world's equivalent of Sainsbury's. They had almost all the groceries and food that he wanted.

He got a very wide selection of different meats as well as some poultry. He even found a discount purchase on raw salmon and tuna it was a buy two get one free deal. He also bought a wide selection of vegetables and some rice. He was pleasantly surprised at the fact that Remnant seemed to have the same kinds of food as earth. He could hopefully put his cooking skills to good use.

Drinks were also semi-important to Matt. Sure he got those revitalization potions at the end of the daily quest but it would be nice to have things to drink during the exercise.

Along with the groceries he had gone out shopping for some new clothes. He had found a shop that sold what he liked the look of called "Coco's". He had managed to procure for himself a black trench coat with a hood on it to protect from wind or another person's sight. The trench coat was also hunter grade meaning it was reinforced with Kevlar lining on the inside which would stop basic bladed weapons and smaller claw attacks. The Kevlar also added an extra layer of warmth that dropped down to his knees which he kept open to display the black muscle shirt inside. He was also wearing jeans that were Kevlar lined to increase with wear and tear so that they wouldn't be ripped as easily. Finally, to finish with his ensemble he had black hiking boots which gave him a rugged look.

Matt was happy with his new look. Sure, it cost him a lot of lien and he might look a bit cliché but it made him feel good about himself. Who cares what others thought? He didn't have the need nor want to care about that kind of thing.

The managers at Coco's also referred to a hunter accessory shop nearby where matt bought himself some small bits of armour plating. Steel shin guards, Bracers and Elbow pads meant that he had a little bit of armour but Matt would have definitely preferred to dodge and avoid being hit. The armour was just a last-ditch attempt for protection should his Aura break. The final thing Matt bought from the armour store were reinforced fingerless brawler's gloves. They had steel covering on the knuckles and had a rough underhand grip so that if he needed to pick up or grab anything rapidly, they would have that little extra bit of usefulness.

Of course, Matt wasn't stupid enough to wear all this stuff around. No. That would create way too much attention for him as most other people just wore normal clothes anyway. It was only the hunters who dressed this extravagantly. He wanted to keep this hunter thing a secret just like the system had told him to.

The inventory backpack made this infinitely easier and when he did open up his inventory and had a look at the clothes he had put in the backpack, he could even see their durability.

Matt didn't just buy the one set either. He bought three new shirts and three pairs of jeans. The trench coat was an exception as it alone cost 400 Lien and he didn't want to waste it all, not until he got that job set up at least.

The last thing that he crossed off his list was his new "phone" or scroll's as Remnant called them. To Matt, it was very peculiar. The holographic screen threw him off at first as he wasn't used to it but soon, he realized it was almost exactly like a smartphone and that he would have no troubles adapting to it. He hoped remnant had some good music as well. It was always nice to listen to his favourite music while doing menial tasks like cooking.

All in all, it was a good afternoon out for Matt. He had however spent 4238 of his 5000 lien so clearly, he was cutting it close. That did still leave him around 1600 lien to spend on other smaller things.

His daily quest was finished as well. While he was going in between all the shopping and exploring he did the occasional jogging to up the twenty K's he had to walk and in breaks of purchasing when he got overwhelmed by how tedious it was, he did the necessary squats and pullups at another nearby park he had found using his scrolls GPS feature. The system, however, had denied his points with the message being.

_**[At the start of tomorrow, you will receive your daily quest rewards]**_

_**[Time left until rewards: 04:24:00]**_

Matt was annoyed but glad that he had at least completed the mission. He also noticed how Vale had lots of parks…Like a whole lot of them. People here were very active compared to those back on earth.

He was proud of himself. In this one day, he had met almost all of his goals and was finally ready to turn in and call it a day.

As he opened the door quietly to his apartment as it was quite late and the last thing, he wanted now was an angry neighbour yelling at him. He swore he could hear the faint sound of sizzling and cracking coming from further inside. He was cautious now on his approach as this wouldn't have been the first unwelcome surprise he would have seen in his apartment.

As Matt crouched down and crept further inside the apartments main entry hall and was approaching the living room, he could also hear the sound of someone…_'Humming?' _Matt was really confused now…that seemed to be a recurring theme for him he noticed but hey, reincarnation and all.

Matt realized that there was no way this person in his apartment was bad as what kind of bad person hum's soft melodies like this. Furthermore, the system hadn't made any indication this was a quest or someone hostile.

'_Maybe this is the person who's been living here in my absence? Matt. You're a dumbass of course it is, who else would be in your damn apartment?' _Matt steeled himself realizing that this person was probably friendly stood up straight and walked around the corner into the main body of his apartment to see who exactly it was.

* * *

Blake had been living in this apartment for five days now as the person who saved her (which she found out was the owner, based on the keys they had recovered from his body) was currently…unreachable. It was a safe place for her to stay and she knew that. The White Fang that followed her here five nights ago were either in hospital or prison. The cops had turned up shortly after that blonde-haired woman had called them that night. They found Blake sitting there holding the man's hand trying to do anything to get him to wake up. Blake wasn't thinking rationally at all and she even tried using her own Aura to replenish his. She didn't realize how foolish she sounded until she explained it to the police the next day.

Using her soul to try and replenish someone else's. Sounds like some kind of dark ritual if she had to be honest with herself. The cops had hung around the apartment for a couple of hours afterwards and had taken both the unconscious men in for questioning at a later date. Blake was also escorted to the station to give her side of the story.

On the walk out of the apartment, she saw two bullhead ambulances being loaded up outside. She got a quick peek at one and she could see the apartment's owner being loaded onto a bed. An IV drip was in his arm and he was linked up to a whole bunch of monitors while two paramedics started cleaning the blood of his face and body.

The other bullhead she could see being loaded with a body on a stretcher with a tarp covering it, blood still dripping along the floor from underneath the tarp. Blake winced as she saw this. That must have been the White Fang member that the owner had pushed off the balcony. Blake knew that no one without Aura would have survived a fall from six floors up but she knew the man's intention probably wasn't to kill the Fang member, just get rid of him. If the owner was punished for murder or manslaughter, she would vehemently defend him. He was only acting in self-defence and Blake was the whole reason he got dragged into this.

To defend her side of the story she claimed that she was his girlfriend and was in the apartment when the Fang members broke in. The police seemed to buy it enough, they probably just wanted to get this bit over with anyways. They had two Fang operatives to question and the didn't feel like interrogating some teenager.

Blake had returned to the apartment where she found that it had almost all been fixed up courtesy of one "Glynda Goodwitch". Blake had no idea who that was but was grateful that she had a proper place to sleep in that night. Her own wound had healed up nicely thanks to the Aura she had but there was no telling about the owner and how he would hold up.

Blake made a decision then and there that when he woke up, she would thank him for the way he ran in. She had to admit, she could have probably taken all three fang herself but he was a useful distraction as evil as that sounded.

In the meantime, she was happy to just have a nice place to sleep. There was still blood on the sofa after her recent endeavour so she instead took a blanket from the cupboard and went to sleep on the recliner in the living room.

That was how Blake had spent the past five nights. Sleeping on a recliner in an unknown man's apartment. She didn't want to take the bed of someone who was in a hospital fighting for their life. That felt to disrespectful. Blake also went out and got food occasionally. Mainly takeaway from the sushi place further down the street occasionally she would also wander into the city and look for something different.

Every day without fail however Blake would visit him in the hospital. She would often go at lunchtime and sit there discussing her plans in future about beacon, the white fang, her dreams. She knew it was stupid and he couldn't hear her in his coma but it was always nice to be able to talk to someone. Blake knew that staying with this person when they woke up was stupid but she owed him a debt, she was using his house, had used his life and now Blake felt she at least owed it to him to pay him back in some way.

Blake did this for all five days Matt was in a comatose state, however, that all changed when she went to visit his hospital room again on the afternoon he woke up and the nurse there had told her that the patient had left.

Blake was confused. No way could anyone normal wake up that quickly. Blake shuddered after remembering what his face had looked like after the beating. His Aura was clearly down and it surely would have taken him much longer to heal right? _'Unless that's his semblance' _Blake thought to herself.

With no clue of where he was Blake decided to just head back to the apartment and wait for him to return then she could talk to him about what she planned on doing. She hoped that she could convince him to let her stay. She had nowhere else to go, maybe to Tukson's but he was still linked to the White Fang and Blake wanted nothing to do with them.

So, Blake returned home mid afternoon and waited…waited…waited and waited even more until eventually she got sick of sitting around doing nothing and decided to go out and pick something up to cook.

Blake had decided she had wanted some fish, more specifically a fat salmon or some tuna maybe, she always loved to cook. It was her guilty hobby along with reading some more…questionable literature. Blake decided tonight she was going to cook and she was going to enjoy it. She had been having too much trouble lately and she was always stressed. She really needed to unwind a bit.

Blake had decided that it was a salmon she would be cooking. She didn't have much lien on hand so she had to make do. She purchased a whole salmon at her favourite fish shop. She also ran to a local grocer and bought some lemon, cooking oil and a few light spices and herbs she could use.

Blake made her way back to the apartment already slightly drooling at the thought of the tender piece of fish she was carrying in the shopping bag. She quickly stopped and wiped her mouth to make sure no one saw that little mishap.

'_Curse my Faunus tendencies' _she grumpily thought to herself before making her way back inside the apartment. She had gotten her own key from the reception area after claiming she was the owner's girlfriend and was given a copy of his key, no questions asked. That surprised her but she wasn't going to complain.

She got her key out and unlocked the door before closing it and re locking it. She wanted no one to find out about her little guilty joy.

After the door was shut Blake let out a sigh of relief and walked over to the kitchenette area.

She pulled the salmon out of the bag and laid it out on a cutting board before finding a sharp knife in the cupboard and expertly filleting the fish and de-scaling it. Normally she would have asked the fishmonger to do that for her but she wanted to do it all herself tonight.

Blake put away the bones and head of the fish for use at a later date. She could use them to make fish stock in future.

After grabbing the two large fillet pieces of salmon she proceeded to cut them into smaller palm sized chunks in order to cook them in the pan. As she slowly started to turn the heat up on the pan and poured in a small amount of oil. Blake then proceeded to take the cut pieces of fish and laid them out in front of her skin side up before lightly seasoning it with some salt before flipping them over and seasoning the meaty side with some salt, pepper and a tiny bit lemon of juice she squeezed out.

She noticed the pan was starting to smoke a tiny bit due to the oil so she quickly readjusted the heat before she carefully put the first piece of fish into the pan skin side down being cautious to not splash hot oil on herself. Almost instantly a very satisfying sizzling sound started indicating that the pan was hot enough to cook the salmon filets. Blake didn't notice that she had started humming a song that her mother used to sing to her before she joined the Fang. Kali always used to sing it while she was cooking and it ingrained itself into Blake's memory.

She was about to put the next piece of Salmon into the pan when someone cleared their throat behind her which made her jump and she dropped the piece of fish into the pan from too high of a height causing hot oil so splash onto her skin. She hissed as she turned around to see who had disturbed her before her eyes locked onto a pair of Icy blue ones and she shivered under his gaze.

She gulped nervously as she realized she was looking at the owner of the very apartment she was standing and cooking in. All without his permission.

"Hi?" She weakly said with a pained smile on her face.

* * *

Of all the possible people Matt could have found in his apartment he could have done a lot worse than the raven-haired teenage girl standing in front of him.

Amber eyes refused to meet azure ones as Blake shuffled on her feet with a hint of trepidation. Matt's eyes displayed no emotion at the person in front of him, despite how internally he was already trying to think of a way to break the ice between them. This was getting too awkward now, even for him.

Matt looked past Blake and saw the fish cooking in the pan before grabbing two plates out of the overhead cupboards Blake just stood there tensely, spatula still in hand just watching him.

"Dinner for two?" Matt asked holding both plates up grinning.

Matt could see Blake visibly relax as she brushed a lock of hair back behind her ear. The signature Blake confidence returning. She gently shoved Matt over to the side before taking the spatula and flipping over the first piece of fish.

"I hope you like salmon" She said to him waiting to judge his reaction. The smile that appeared on his face was on of genuine happiness and Blake was glad that he wasn't angry at her for living in his apartment.

"Absolutely love it" He said, his eyes not leaving hers, he was still smiling when he put the plates down next to the pan and walked off to go set the table.

* * *

Two polished plates sat on the table between Blake and Matt as one of them chose to break the silence that had settled after the meal.

"So, Blake, right? Lovely name" Matt said smiling at Blake. The last thing he wanted to do was make her nervous, he needed to know why she was here in his apartment and her intentions. If he came off as too hostile then he would lose her trust.

"Thank you." Blake said before realizing a light sprinkling of pink had fallen on her cheeks. His smile was just too good. He looked way better than Blake remembered. Maybe that was because the last time she saw him he was half dead and covered in blood.

"I'm glad to see you've made a recovery Matt." Blake said with an even tone trying not to give away any of her intentions.

"Heh. Was it really that bad? The nurse said I looked like I was beaten half to death." Matt said scratching the back of his head.

Blake winced, she would have told him that he did not look okay at all, but not that bluntly.

"It was pretty bad. When they took you off in the bullhead your pulse was weak and you weren't responding to anything, I honestly thought you died but somehow you pulled through." Blake gave him a weak smile after telling him that.

"Ok Blake I've got one question for you and I want you to answer honestly." Matt suddenly went serious on her and the look in his eyes told her he wasn't playing around.

Blake could only nod her head, she was after all still in debt to him and she would try to answer honestly, however she wouldn't reveal her Faunus heritage to him no matter the circumstances. That she swore to herself.

"Are you involved with the guys who beat me up last week?" Matt asked, keeping his gazed locked on hers. Slowly Blake's facial expression slowly morphed into one of guilt.

"Well yes but…" Blake tried to answer but was hesitating.

Before she could answer any further or try to justify her points Matt held his hand up signifying for her to stop talking. Blake slumped back in the chair ready to be told to leave. This was his apartment and she had no power here. If he told her to leave, she would.

Matt said nothing else as he picked up the plates and moved over to the sink before running them under the tap, all the while Blake sat at the table waiting for him to say something. The tension was killing her.

Matt turned the tap off and shook his hands leaving the plates in the sink for now before he turned around to Blake.

"You can stay"

Blake sighed, she knew he would tell her to leave after all she was the reason he go-, Blakes brain did a double take and she whipped her head to look at him.

"What did you say?"

"I said you can stay" Matt just looked at her with an expression on his face that essentially asked her _'Why would you think otherwise?'_

Blake was honestly surprised; she had just admitted to being related to the people who had almost killed him and he was staying she could stay.

"Why?" Blake whispered quietly, wanting to know the reasoning behind his answer.

"Because you look like you need it. If you didn't then you would have already left to stay somewhere else. So, as far as I see, clearly those guys didn't like you and you haven't left yet, so…"

Blake sighed before responding. "You're right, I do need somewhere to stay and I'm pretty sure those guys are trying to kill me." Blake didn't need reminding about the hole she had in her stomach courtesy of the White Fang.

"Well then Blake, since you're staying, I only have four conditions for you if you want to remain here in Chez Matt" Matt said walking back over to the table and across from Blake and waving his hands around to insinuate what "here" was exactly.

"let's hear them then?" Blake asked.

"One, I need you to be honest with me. If you want to stay here in my home, I need to know I can trust you. I have things that I'm not ready to tell you yet or show you and I'm sure you have the same. Everyone has some skeletons in their closets."

Blake had no problem with this first term. She knew exactly what he was talking about in regards to keeping secrets. She would not ask him about his demons and he wouldn't ask her.

"That seems agreeable" Blake answered.

"Ok second term. I'm sleeping outside, you are taking the bed and my room." Blake instantly shot up to disagree. She couldn't take the bed from him after she had already taken advantage of so much.

"You are injured, I can't possibly take the bed from you. You need the rest more than I do" Blake tried to push.

"In case you haven't noticed Blake, I'm perfectly fine and you are my guest, I refuse to let you sleep on the spare mattress. That would be rude and impolite to not offer you the bed." Matt stated factually. Judging from the look on his face Blake knew he wouldn't budge

"Fine." She grumbled out, why couldn't he just let her pay him back somehow so that she could move on already with the guilt she was holding.

"Third. Go buy some new clothes, I can give you Lien if you want but those stink badly of blood and sweat" Matt asked politely as he could.

Blake still bushed and shrivelled even smaller as she realized just how right she was. Sure, she had been washing them when it was just her in the apartment but blood and sweat are very hard smells to get rid of. Blake would never admit this to anyone but she was self-conscious enough and this was another left jab straight towards her ego. Even if it wasn't intentional.

Matt didn't wait for her response before going on with the final request.

"Thirdly I might need some help with work, I'm planning on opening a coffee shop and I might need your help occasionally but other than that those are the only terms I have for you living here. You already have your own key clearly so you can go and do as you please, I won't intrude." Matt sat back down waiting for a final response from Blake.

"Well?" He asked her.

"I accept those terms." She said with a smile looking up at him in genuine appreciation visible in her eyes.

"Well then Miss Belladonna, welcome to your new home" Matt said jovially before standing up and pushing the chair under the table and proceeding to head over to pull the spare mattress out of utility room.

"Hey Blake, you're right I'm still pretty tired actually so I'm planning on calling it a night, if you need anything just give me a shout or come out and ask. Don't be scared." Matt said plopping the new bed down on the floor between the sofa and television. Before he turned around and headed towards the bathroom but as he passed Blake, he put his hand on her shoulder and she turned to look at him.

"You'll be alright Blake" He said before patting her shoulder twice and walking into the bathroom and locking the door behind him.

Blake sat there at the table still quiet thinking about the things he said.

'_New home huh?' _Blake thought to herself looking around the modest apartment she had found herself in. A smile crossed her face as she thought about the person taking a shower in the room behind her. He seemed like a nice person, hopefully she could get to know him better in the upcoming future. With that note done Blake turned around and headed into the main bedroom before locking the door behind her and stripping her clothes off.

Blake turned around and climbed into the bed and curled herself up in the thick sheets. Smiling as she did so.

That night Blake's mind wasn't plagued with worries and thoughts about Adam.

Her sleep tonight was filled with thoughts of familiar blue eyes and dark messy hair.

That night she went to sleep, at peace.

* * *

Matt stepped out of the bathroom and noticed that Blake had already headed off to bed and this meant he could do some more managing and planning of the future. He had already come to a decision about the Job he wanted and that was the coffee shop. It could be his and his alone. No one to manage it for him and it would be his pride and Joy here on Vale.

He would tell the system that tomorrow when he was done with tonight's training. See there was another reason Matt chose to sleep on the mattress outside. It meant that he could sneak out to go do extra training without disturbing his new flat-mate.

Matt quickly put his ear up to his bedroom door and heard no sounds coming from inside. This was as good a time as any.

Matt sat down on the sofa before opening up his Backpack and sorting out what he needed.

He geared himself up with all of the new huntsman clothes he had bought earlier including the trench coat, with its hood pulled up. He didn't want anyone to see him under it. He put the armour plates on his legs and arms before swinging the backpack onto his back and clipping it in place. Matt reached into his pocket and pulled out the first of three green keys.

He wanted to explore a dungeon…badly. So, why not now? Matt left the apartment as quietly as he could. Key in one hand and the 'one handed pistol's skillbook' tucked under his armpit. He set off down the stairs and stepped outside into the night.

Holding out the green key he could see a path on his minimap indicating where he had to go.

"Well. Let's get started then" and on that note Matt set into a brisk jog moving into the night ready to take on whatever challenges the world threw at him.

This time he would train and grow. This time he would become stronger…and this time. He would be ready no matter the challenge.

The system was counting on him.

* * *

**Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed this long ass chapter. This is the longest one yet and I'm pretty proud of it. I got some fluff in between Matt and Blake (not too much I hope) and Matt has started bridging the gap to becoming stronger. New players are revealed, Matt's got plans for the future. Blake's going to come up with Plans. Salem's got plans. EVERYONE HAS PLANS…except ruby. She's clueless as ever. Next time we will get to meet more of the RWBY and JNPR crew once Matt gets his coffee shop opening!**

**TIME FOR MATT TO GET HIS DUNGEON STREAK ON!**

**One last time. I hope you all enjoyed. PM me if you have any questions or suggestions. I'll try to keep those sorted. Also Matt will get his weapons next chapter (or one of them anyway Cx ) **


	9. (UPDATE - 19102019)

**Hey guys! RoyalMD here again.**

**Quick little update on the story. I haven't left it to die, I've just been working on lots of things to do with it.**

**So far, the re-do is going well. Matt's still going to be his cynical self (if more serious about things like people breaking and entering). So far after reading through reviews both short and long and having a look at Matt again, I've realized he is way to nonchalant about certain things going on around him so that is working on being amended.**

**Secondly, I've been rewriting some of the Blake stuff as I realize at times, she steps a little into OOC character territory with her actions, so that's also working on being fixed (She might appear later or in a different way).**

**Almost all of the Chapters will be overhauled in one single go, not much is going to change about the main story and plotline of TPoR, but it will have a slightly different order for certain events as with the overhaul I feel it flows smoother as a story, so look forward to that.**

**A Beta has been found! Hooray! Special thanks to them for helping me out with the rewrite (and thank to TheRealSquippy for helping me find this Beta)**

**Finally, I have a small sneak peak of one tiny part of the next chapter coming your guys' way. So, I hope you enjoy this short little snippet.**

**Expect next chapter and overhaul late October/Early November**

* * *

Matt approached the marker that had appeared in front of him held out one of his three green keys. As soon as he opened his palm the key turned to ash and it scattered into the wind around him. Matt turned his head around in confusion looking for any sign of a disturbance in the local area.

Matt was expecting a situation similar to that of the punishment quest, where the monsters and creatures of Grimm would just start appearing around him.

Instead, Matt stood in the forest alone and unmoving. He tensed his shoulders waiting for something…a sight. A sound. A sign that something was going to happen. Just as Matt relaxed a bit as he realized nothing was coming for him a glowing green tear appeared in front of him. The tear in the fabric of reality was no bigger than his fist and Matt was curious as to what it was

_'This is probably linked to the dungeon' _Matt thought to himself. With a certain degree of trepidation, Matt extended his arm out and touched the glowing green rift.


	10. Spelunker

**Welcome back, people. It's good to finally be able to upload a new chapter. I'm sorry it took so long I've been having lots of back and forth discussions with people about specific things to do with this story (how strong Matt should be, what loot should be like, levels), and I'd like to help my friends Dan and Chris for helping me with all sorts of ideas.**

**In this chapter, I've taken in advice from the two guys I mentioned earlier, reviewers and PMS from all sorts of people. I've made adjustments to how I see fit, but it is still my story in the end so I do have final say (as sad as that may be to some people), but finally it is here. I hope you all enjoy it.**

**Remember to read, review, fav and follow (hopefully my upload schedule won't be as shit and inconsistent in future) – Corvid19 has given me lots of spare time.**

**As always, I don't own RWBY, and I claim credit for all original characters.**

**(P.S I'm still working on the re-write _ The prologue has been updated)**

**Enjoy! - RoyalMD**

* * *

**[Name: Matthew Apricitas]**

**[Age: 18]**

**[Job: Novice Rogue]**

**[Level: {7}]**

**[Experience Points: 660/1000]**

**[Attribute points available: 2]**

**[Stat points available: 10]**

**[Active abilities: None]**

**[Passive abilities: Aura boost, Vital Strike, Vanish, Scholar, Cold as Ice]**

**[Health Points: 150/150]**

**「****Aura Points: 75/75]**

**[Strength: 15]**

**[Constitution: 15]**

**[Defense: 15]**

**[Intelligence: 11]**

**[Wisdom: 10]**

**[Dexterity: 20]**

**[****Tenacity: 10]**

**[****Items****]**

**[****Inventory Backpack – A backpack that transports items into your inventory****]**

**[****Traveller's Map – A minimap that uncovers areas as you explore them****]**

**[****One handed guns skillbook – skillbook in the art of one-handed gunslinging****]**

**[****Armour Blueprints – used to construct one piece of armour provided you own the components****]**

**[****House key – Key to apartment 626 in Vale heights****]**

**[****Obsidian dagger – A dagger made from some of the darkest metal****]**

**[****Green key x3 - ?****]**

**[****Pistol components x5 – Parts of a pistol; collect 15 to assemble the weapon****]**

**[****5900 Lien – Remnants common currency****]**

**[****Clothing****]**

**[****Armoured Trench coat****]**

**[****Black running shirt****]**

**[****Kevlar lined jeans****]**

**[****Hiking boots****]**

* * *

The first thing Matt noticed when he left his apartment was how hot it was in a trench coat, despite it being night time as well. He almost decided to turn around right there and put it in his inventory backpack while walking around.

He kept it on; however, in favour of the armour value and safety net that it provided for him. The first thing that Matt needed to do was find a secluded area either in or out of the city, he had no preference, but it would be nice to not worry about Grimm.

Before he decided to do the dungeon, he wanted to take stock of everything he had with him and use that skillbook he had picked up earlier, back when he was at the library.

Even though it was especially late in the night he decided to head back out to the city borders, there he would still be under the protection of the city's safe zone effect, but he was also less likely to be spotted by any unwanted eyes.

Matt eventually reached the edge of the city, and no indicator told him he had left the safe zone yet so he took solace in the fact that he would still be protected from the Grimm in the forest ahead of him. He looked around the area and located a bench and table he could sit at to do his thing.

Matt sat down at the bench with the dim glow of a street light overhead. He unslung his backpack from his shoulder before digging through it and pulling out everything that he wanted to take a look into. The first thing he pulled out to have a closer examination was the Traveller's map, the moment he stuck his hand into the backpack and summoned it, the map in his peripheral vision vanished, and he was now holding a paper version of his minimap.

As he held it up to examine, he noticed that the area he had come from was now filled out with roads and names of places as well as an indicator which showed him where his home was. The map, however, was still blank for the most part, tucking it away again caused the minimap to reappear in his field of view.

The second thing Matt pulled out was the gunslinging skillbook the system had given him. As it materialized, he recalled the first time he had seen it. He didn't have much time to look at it, as he had to put it away from anyone who could have spotted the mass of items that had fallen on the ground. Now, however, he had much more time to examine the book, and as he lay it on the table in front of him, he had a chance to admire the beauty of the cover. At first glance, the book held nothing of immediate interest, but as he looked closer, he could see how much detail there was.

The twin revolvers that which had been etched on to the front contained much more detail than he expected he could see that whoever had carved these had been a master craftsman, furthermore despite the old looking leather front, from what he could tell looking at the side of the book. Matt was excited to open it and see what he could learn, however the moment he turned the page, something completely unexpected happened.

Matt wasn't ready for the flow of knowledge he received, words he couldn't make out, and images that could only be described as blurry flowed into his mind. Matt's eyes clouded over purple, and he began to feel a severe headache coming on from trying to contain all this new information. This process lasted about 10 seconds before he felt the flow of new knowledge stopping.

Matt took a moment and rubbed his forehead, the migraine quickly going away, he looked around for the book that had just been sitting in front of him, he supposed it would disappear on usage, but things like this were always weird to see, even when he was expecting it.

The last thing he pulled out was his Scroll. The clerk had done an outstanding job explaining to him just what exactly it could do. Although he dabbled in its features a little bit earlier when completing his daily Quest, there were still lots of other things he could do with the Scroll. Call features, cameras, video streaming services, online shopping and when he had tried to look at the music app on his Scroll, the system had automatically chosen to add his old song playlist to the Scroll. Matt was more than thrilled with that.

With everything that Matt wanted to get sorted out before heading off to find the dungeon, sorted, he closed his backpack and continued following the marker the minimap had given him, tucking his obsidian dagger into its sheath, he walked towards the forest and promptly got a message

**[****Warning: You have left a safe zone****]**

"Always reassuring" Matt grumbled to the system before setting off deeper to go and find this dungeon.

* * *

A marker is what greeted Matt as he approached the end of the trail that the system had left for him. He hadn't seen anything on the way here noteworthy, all was quiet, and no Grimm had been sighted. It put him slightly on edge, but he chose not to dwell on it.

Matt approached the marker that had appeared in front of him in the clearing and pulled out one of his three green keys. As soon as he opened his palm, the key turned to ash, and it scattered into the wind around him. Matt turned his head around in confusion, looking for any sign of a disturbance in the local area.

Matt was expecting a situation similar to that of the punishment quest, where the monsters and creatures of Grimm would start appearing around him.

Instead, Matt stood in the forest alone and unmoving. He tensed his shoulders, waiting for something…a sight. A sound. A sign that something was going to happen. Just as Matt relaxed a bit as he realized nothing was coming for him, a glowing green tear appeared in front of him. The crack in the fabric of reality was no bigger than his fist, and Matt was curious as to what it was

_'This is probably linked to the dungeon' _Matt thought to himself. With a certain degree of trepidation, Matt extended his arm out and touched the glowing green rift.

As soon as his hand made contact with the tear, it expanded to a height of four meters, and it looked much more imposing now it was larger and glowing brighter as well. Matt turned his eyes upwards and at the top of the portal some floating text

**[****Lost Mines I****]**

**[****This dungeon is suited for solo parties****]**

**[****The dungeon entrance will disappear in 00:28:20****]**

Matt regarded the text before sighing, and he resigned himself to the fact he had opened the portal now, and he had to use it. Matt quickly stuck his head around the side of the entrance and noticed it only appeared in two dimensions. From the side he could see that it was so thin it was almost invisible to the naked eye, and he was sure if he didn't know what he was looking at he would have missed it completely.

Not only was it two dimensional, but the portal didn't have a back as well. It seemed the only way that someone could see the entrance was if they were standing in the position which the portal was initially opened from.

As Matt was thinking about how this could have worked an idea formulated itself inside his head.

'_If the entrance stays open for half an hour, then that means I can scout out the dungeon and leave if I'm not prepared for it.'_

Matt was excited that he might have discovered a loophole that could, in future, help him and decided that later on, he would check another dungeon to see if the timer was always thirty minutes.

Without wasting any more time, Matt steeled his nerves and took his first step into the portal.

As Matt set his first foot into the portal, he felt a coolness wash over his body but only for a couple of seconds before he emerged on the other side.

When Matt got through the portal, he stumbled forwards before straightening himself. He turned around in time to see the green rift shrinking back to its original size. Matt walked back towards the rift and stuck his hand out again before watching it grow to its larger size.

Matt let out a relieved sigh as he realized if he needed to, he could leave the dungeon if things got too heated for him down here. He also received a system notification that brought a smile to his face.

**[A****lert: While you are in a dungeon, your wounds will regenerate rapidly out of combat]**

**[A****lert: Time will not pass while you are in the dungeon]**

Matt saw this message and felt relief well up inside of him. He had an answer to a question he didn't even know he wanted to ask. Mat assumed this message meant he could still die, and wounds would be fatal, but he didn't know how severe injuries would be allowed to be before the healing stopped. If he lost his leg in a fight, could he crawl to safety and it would grow back? He honestly didn't feel like he wanted to know the answer to that question.

The second message about time not passing was also a neat little mechanic that he didn't think about, and this meant that Matt could be down indefinitely without worrying about the time outside of the dungeon. Hence, he realized that he didn't have to worry about coming home to an awake Blake Belladonna.

Now confirming that he had an exit and that he would have a safety net for his health, Matt took some time to look around the place he had found himself in. He was in a large stone cavern, walls coated in layers of dust and old looking wooden support beams held up the cavern roof. There was a rope bridge across a chasm in front of him which contained a raging torrent, and old torches were still burning to provide a warm golden light around the area. Shadows danced on the walls around him, and Matt couldn't help admire the beauty of the scene. Matt felt serene down here, almost like he had just stepped into a scene out of a movie.

He spent a few more minutes admiring the cavern around him before deciding he needed to do what he came down here for in the first place.

Matt approached the wooden bridge that lay before him, up ahead, he could see the faint glow of more torches before they vanished into further darkness. Matt tentatively crossed the bridge, the wooden boards creaking under his weight. That feeling of serenity had left as fast as it had arrived.

Advancing further into the dungeon, Matt grew warier and warier of the silence around him. While initially, he had felt at peace down here in the tunnel now he only felt anxious and worry for what was coming. The main shaft seemed to stretch on for infinity with side tunnels having been blocked off by either wooden boarding or what looked like intentional rockfalls. Someone had knocked those tunnels down to keep something out, and Matt wasn't very excited to find out what they had been trying to block.

As Matt kept on walking a notification popped up without warning.

**「Warning: System is updating in 3…」**

**「Warning: System is updating in 2…」**

**「Warning: System is updating in 1…」**

The world around Matt turned black, and he once again found himself floating in that void that he had visited so many times now. He wondered why the system decided to update himself now but chose not to ponder on that. Matt was only in the void for a couple of seconds before the world around him turned back into the dungeon he had entered.

A list popped up in front of Matt, and he took his time reading it.

**「System has been updated. For full notes call "Changelog"」**

Matt did as he was instructed, and he got a bulleted list of all the things that had changed for the system that was guiding him.

**「Changelog」**

** 「Experience has been reworked to be more streamlined」 **

**「Experience will be based on your performance in combat」**

** 「Stat and attribute points will be rewarded based on your performance in combat」**

** 「Job's have been reset into classes」**

** 「All classes will now have subclasses to encourage diversification」 **

**「Text and font has been updated to be more streamlined」 **

**「Weapon Mastery has been added」**

** 「Special combatants and allies will have nametags applied」**

Matt looked with a blank face at the updates, and his brain took a moment to reboot after reading the message he had just seen. His stat page appeared soon after his mind had rebooted

**「****Name: Matthew Apricitas****」**

**「****Class: N/A****」**

**「****Level: {7}****」**

**「****Experience Points: 660/1000****」**

**「****Attribute points available: 2****」**

**「****Stat points available: 10****」**

**「****Active abilities: None****」**

**「****Passive abilities: Aura boost, Vital Strike, Vanish, Scholar, Cold as Ice****」**

**「****Health Points: 150/150****」**

**「****Aura Points: 75/75****」**

**「****Strength: 15****」**

**「****Constitution: 15****」**

**「****Defense: 15****」**

**「****Intelligence: 11****」**

**「****Wisdom: 10****」**

**「****Dexterity: 20****」**

**「****Tenacity: 10****」**

Matt would have to check the rest of the change's out later, but for now, he opted to keep moving on and finish this dungeon, the faster he got this over with, the quicker he could get home. He also still had all those other side tasks to do that he couldn't forget about; he didn't want to face another punishment quest.

The tunnel eventually ended and opened up into a large cavern that was dimly lit, he couldn't see the ceiling and the walls on his left and right seemed to spread out for an eternity. The vastness of it was awe-inspiring, Matt's thoughts, however, were stopped short when he heard a growl coming from his left

He turned around and saw the familiar red eye glows of a Boarbatusk. Matt quickly whipped out his obsidian dagger and prepared to fight, however as the Grimm creature started to charge, two red lines appeared along the floor coming directly from the Grimm towards him. Matt jumped to the right, and as the beast charged, it missed him completely. Matt knew what this was. They were guidelines. "Maybe the system update did that?". The boarbatusk lined up to charge again, and the same process repeated itself, Matt jumped out of the way, and the Boarbatusk missed its charge on him.

The next time it happened; however, Matt took advantage of the situation, and after the third time it had missed him, he stepped into arms reach with the creature as it was recovering from its charge and stabbed the dagger into its hide then proceeding to rip it down its stomach. Black smoke poured from the wound as the Boarbatusk squealed in pain. It instinctively turned around and headbutted Matt, he got knocked down onto the floor, and he felt his Aura take some damage. He was trying to recover but noticed the red lines had appeared again on the ground around him and rolled out of the way just in time to see a pissed off Boarbatusk charge straight over where he was lying. Matt quickly got back up on his feet and dashed at the Grimm, trying to take advantage of its recovery time. Again, the dagger entered the hide of the Boarbatusk, and yet again, it got even more enraged at Matt.

He knew if he just kept kiting the Boarbatusk out then, he would be rewarded with its defeat and so this process continued four more times before the Boarbatusk eventually fell to all the grievous wounds that it had on its stomach and unarmoured hide.

The boar collapsed to the ground before its body quickly dissipated into smoke. All that was left to show the fight had even taken place was a purple sack made of silk sitting in the middle of the floor. Matt approached the bag, and when he proceeded to open it, he got an item notification for the things the Boarbatusk had dropped.

**「You have received item's from the Boarbatusk」**

** 「Pistol parts x 1」 **

**「Lien x 542」 **

**「Experience x 78」**

Five hundred lien for a kill was an outstanding amount of money, and Matt was happy. He had also gotten another gun part which meant he only needed to collect six more, and he could create his weapon. Matt also felt his fatigue quickly dissipating as the monster had died, and the dungeons regeneration started to take effect on him.

Matt collected the Lien and the Pistol Part before he ventured further into the dungeon, prepared to take on what was in store.

* * *

Matt felt like he had been in the dungeon for hours now, over his time down here, he had killed a significant amount of Boarbatusks, so many in fact that Matt had lost count. However, he had now collected over 55,000 Lien, 36,800 of which had been from level up's alone and had around 32 Pistol parts not to mention Matt was also level 12 now. Although it was a lot of money and skill points he was making, it was beginning to get tiresome for him. Still, the waves of Grimm just seemed to be endless. Matt was proficient now in killing Boarbatusks, although he had a few slip-ups at first and he didn't get as many rewards sometimes as he did others, he was still confident now in his knife skills to fight Boarbatusk's with. No item drops yet, but he hoped the boss would give him something more worthwhile.

Matt held up his obsidian dagger and gave it an annoyed look. It had gotten quite dull now, it no longer held that initial sharpness that it once had and the blade was so scratched and chipped in places that he wondered about its structural integrity. How long until the blade snapped during a fight?

The pistol part's were virtually useless to him as well. When he had tried to put 15 together to make a weapon of some kind the system had given him the message-

**_「__You must be in a safezone to craft weapons or armour__」_**

So, for now, he had to hope that the obsidian dagger would make it until the end of his time in the dungeon.

After fighting through Grimm after Grimm and floor after floor, Matt finally found himself standing before a large iron door that was obviously where the boss resided. Matt didn't even need to think twice about pushing the door open and heading inside. He was sick of these mines and now the feelings of peace he once had from the cold stone walls, and warm oil torches had been replaced with distrust and anxiety towards the shadows they created.

With no small amount of effort, Matt pushed the door to the chamber open. When he stepped in, he found himself in a large quarry like structure with ancient stone pillars propping up the ceiling around him. The door slammed itself shut behind him, and he jumped a little bit, and when his heart calmed down, and he attempted to pull the door open, it remained closed.

Torches around the quarry systematically lit themselves before the entire cavern was bright, and Matt could see what was laid down in front of him. Sleeping in the middle of the quarry pit, was an enormous bear-like creature with towering white spikes protruding from it's back. An Ursa, possibly even an Ursa Major if Matt remembered correctly from the Grimm book he had found in the library. Famous for its incredibly thick-hide and rough bone armour covering its back and face. This would be a tough fight for Matt.

The idea of it being a tough fight was confirmed when a dark red nametag appeared above the Grimm's head.

**「Devoratrix the Ursa Major」**

A unique name. This made Matt a tiny bit anxious, but it was too late to do anything about it now.

Slowly, the slumbering Grimm pulled itself up onto its paws and glowing red eyes filled with killer intent zeroed in on Matt. With his dagger out, Matt crouched low and began to circle the make-shift arena along with the Grimm, a sweat bead slowly rolled down Matt's forehead as he could almost sense the anger roiling in waves off of the Grimm in front of him. With hardly any prior warning familiar red-guidelines made themselves known to Matt in a giant cone in front of the beast. Matt sidestepped out of the cone just as the Ursa lunged forwards and slashed at where Matt was, had it not been for the system his Aura would have only taken one hell of a blow.

Similarly to the Boarbatusks that he had killed, Matt dashed in to slash at the Ursa, explicitly aiming for its semi-exposed neck and just as the dagger was about to make contact with the flesh, the Grimm quickly cut at Matt with its front left paw and knocked him into the wall, He hit the wall with a grunt, and he could feel his Aura dropping. He let out a cough before getting back to his feet and facing the Grimm again.

"So you wanna play rough do ya? Fine." The Grimm let out a growl as if a response to Matt's taunt and Charged at him again. Matt dodged it once again, the claw barely missing his midriff before he lunged in again for another stab at the Ursa except now Matt expected the counter from the Grimm.

If there was one thing Matt had learned during his time fighting those Boarbatusks was that the Grimm are very predictable, maybe it was because of there beast-like nature, but to Matt, it seemed like a waste not to exploit such an advantage.

He brought the dagger up and parried the beast's claw down into the ground before sliding his blade rapidly up its bone plating and burying it inside of the Grimm's now open neck before ripping it out. Black smoke poured from the wound of the beast and Matt smiled in grim satisfaction. The creature stumbled back before roaring at the human in front of it. Matt just lifted his dagger in return, ready for its next attack. The Ursa ignored Matt and instead chose to stand up on its hind legs, raising its front paws in the air. Matt saw the red circle appear around the Grimm, but the attack was too fast for him to dodge and even though Matt could have guessed what the Ursa was about to do, the shockwave that was sent up his knees when it slammed its paws into the ground, still knocked him clean into the air.

Matt hit the ground hard when he finally came back down. The shock of hitting the rock ground sent a rattling pain up his spine, and he almost collapsed right there, Aura could do a lot, but the pain could still be felt if one's Aura was low enough. Matt laid there on the ground writhing in pain as the Grimm limped its way over towards him, he had only landed one cut on the Grimm, but he knew his Vital strike skill would have ramped that damage up considerably and as such all, he would need one more clean strike to its neck to kill the Ursa.

Matt slowly sat up again, and when he looked up, the Grimm was towering right above him, Matt knew he could probably take two or three more of those attacks before he was killed. His dagger and left arm rose once again to brace for another hit and this time when the Grimm slammed it's paws down onto him he was cratered into the ground rather than knocked away. Matt felt his Aura getting very close to leaving him, but he knew what his next play would be. As Matt lay in a crater created by his own body, the Ursa raised itself one more time intending to crush Matt and finish the job.

As it got ready to bring its paws down, Matt sprang up from his position on the ground and drove the dagger home, directly into the neck of the Ursa. This stopped the Grimm in its tracks as its paws fell down to the Ursas side and its body teetered before collapsing in a heap of black smoke.

Matt sat down against the Grimm's dissolving corpse and took a moment to catch his breath. He could already feel the system pumping him back up to full health, so he wasn't worried about that. On the other side of the room, a green rit opened up which he assumed must have been the exit, and lying at the foot of the dungeon exit was a wooden chest that was glowing blue.

As Matt continued to try and gain back some composure, a system notification popped up, which caused Matt to smile as he read it.

**「You have Defeated the Dungeon's boss!」**

** 「For your performance you have earned 2 stat points」 **

**「For your performance you have earned 2 attribute points」 **

**「For your performance you have earned 145 exp」**

** 「The Dungeon will collapse in 00:30:00」**

He was done. He had done it and how good he felt. Matt propped himself up and made his way over to the blue chest. It was very well made, and the blue glow that came from all around the chest made it seem like it had an Aura of its own. Above the chest, there was a name tag which had appeared telling Matt what kind of chest it was a rare chest

**「Rare chest – Can contain low to medium rarity equipment」**

Matt opened the chest, eager to discover what loot awaited him. Lifting the wooden lid of the chest revealed multiple pouches of Lien. Matt wouldn't know how much each pouch had before he put them in his inventory bag.

He pulled all of the liens sacks out of the chest and laid them on the ground beside him. In the chest, he also found a steel knight chest plate that also covered his midriff, and finally, he found a small glowing green crystal that he could hold between his fingertips. When he picked it up to examine it, the system gave him an explanation as to what it was.

**「Common enchanting crystal」 **

**「A gem used to imbue a weapon or armour with random properties during its craft phase」**

He'd probably end up using that on the gun he was going to create when he went back to the city, or maybe he'd put in on the new steel armour that he got. Soon after Matt had grabbed all the loot and laid it out in front of hi, the chest vanished into thin air as the walls of the cavern started to rumble.

Matt took this as his queue to leave and he dumped everything into his inventory backpack before making his way through the dungeon exit portal.

Matt emerged from the dungeon back in the clearing he had started in. He checked his scroll and it read 23:34. Still around the same time as when he had entered, so that meant the system was lying and time really didn't pass in the dungeon.

Matt looked over his shoulder quickly to make sure he was alone, which he found out he was, before commanding the system to open his inventory. The system responded almost instantly, and Matt took a moment to browse what he now had

**[****Items」**

**「Travellers Map – A minimap that uncovers areas as you explore them」**

**「Armour Blueprints – used to construct one piece of armour provided you own the components」**

**「House key – Key to apartment 626 in Vale heights」**

**「Obsidian dagger – A dagger made from some of the darkest metal」**

**「Steel knight armour x1 – A steel chest piece that will protect you from most blows」**

**「Green key x2 – Open common tier dungeons」**

**「Pistol components x32 – Parts of a pistol; collect 15 to assemble the weapon」**

**「Common enchanting crystal x1 – Small green crystal for improving equipment」**

**「72,148 Lien – Remnants common currency」**

Matt let out a small whistle at the amount of Lien he now had. Seventy thousand was a lot of money. He also noticed how the green key description had updated. He guessed that was because he had already cleared a dungeon. Matt decided right there he would ditch the armoured trenchcoat and move that into his backpack, and as a replacement, he would wear the plate armour now. It provided more protection, and it didn't make him feel like he was at a videogame or anime convention. It was probably better for warm weather as well. With his trenchcoat in his inventory and his new armour on, Matt pulled out the Traveller's map and checked his progress. He was far away, but a lot of the map out here had been revealed now. Matt was also away from any eyes so he could safely use his teleport command to get himself back home.

"Teleport Home 1"

* * *

The door to apartment number 626 creaked open slowly as Matt did his best to keep quiet when sneaking back into his flat. Matt entered his apartment, closing and locking the door once he was inside. Matt entered his living room and took off his chest piece before letting it rest at the head of his sofa. After he had made sure everything was on him, Matt moved outside to his balcony and after making sure the sliding doors were sealed, Matt summoned up his quests again. Lots of the goals of the main Quest had been dealt with and finished, furthermore during the teleport back home (Which Matt didn't realize took time. It was more akin to fast travel rather than instant teleportation) His daily Quest reward had roled hin. He had received 25 skill points for it as well as 4 minor healing potions. He would deal with those after he finished the main Quest and made a new weapon.

**「1) Pick a job」**

**「2) Use your skill points: Current 40/50」**

**「3) Use your attribute points: Current 0/2」**

**「4) Learn the skill gunslinging」**

**「5) Clear one dungeon: Current 1/1」**

**「6) Deal with Blake Belladonna」**

**「TIME REMAINING 36:40:25」**

Matt decided that clearing quests number two and three would be elementary and he would just need to update his stats.  
Matt pulled up his stats page and saw he had a generous amount of skill and attribute points sitting there waiting for him. The reason he had a decent amount of Stat and attribute points was due to the face that on the walk home, the clock had struck past midnight and as such that meant that the system gave him his rewards for completing his daily Quest. Not to mention he had also levelled up four times in the dungeon

**「****Attribute points available: 7****」**

**「****Stat points available: 87****」**

He already had a plan in mind for what he actually wanted to do. The idea was to go all-in on his dexterity and strength and maybe a little in intelligence as well (he would put a few in everything obviously, but those three would be his priority). If he had extremely high dexterity, he wouldn't need to rely on his constitution or his Aura to tank for him as he could just dodge the blows of any opponents. Strength would be useful to keep his stamina and boy up the task of melee fighting and movement. Finally, intelligence would be helpful for his mental state in battles, if he could process data coming in quickly, he could react more quickly.

Matt commanded his stat page to come up and once again, his levels were displayed in front of him.

**「****Attribute points available: 7****」**

**「****Stat points available: 87****」**

**「****Health Points: 150/150****」**

**「****Aura Points: 75/75****」**

**「****Strength: 15****」**

**「****Constitution: 15****」**

**「****Defense: 15****」**

**「Intelligence: 11」**

**「Wisdom: 10」**

**「Dexterity: 20」**

**「****Tenacity: 10****」**

Matt opted to put 5 into each of his minor stats, these being Tenacity, Wisdom, Defense and Constitution leaving him 67 points left to split up between strength, dexterity and intelligence each of which he would put twenty into.

**「****Health Points: 200/200****」**

**「****Aura Points: 100/100****」**

**^「****Strength: 35****」^**

**^「****Constitution: 20****」^**

**^「****Defense: 20] ^**

**^「****Intelligence: 31****」**

**^「****Wisdom: 15****」^**

**^「****Dexterity: 40****」^^**

**^「****Tenacity: 15****」^**

Stats were out of the way now, moving to attributes. According to the changelog the system had provided him with, they were called classes now. Matt summoned up his menu before looking at his new choices. It was much more clear and extensive than the previous menu.

**「****Class tree****」**

**「****Warrior] ****「****Aura Magus****」****「****Rogue****」**

**「****Expand****」****「****Expand****」****「****Expand****」**

Matt brought his hand to his chin as he had a look at the new class tree. Matt wanted to see what the different options he had were. So on his command and a wave of his hand. All the skill trees expanded outwards.

Each tree had three options, and Matt took his time looking over each one to choose the best class for him. The first tree he decided to have a look at was the Togue tree. He figured this was a good starting point as the system had rewarded him with the obsidian dagger he was so familiar with now.

**「****Rogue****」**

**「****Shinobi****」「****Assassin****」「****Trickster****」**

**「****ROGUE CLASSES CAN WEAR MEDIUM AND LIGHTWEIGHT ARMOUR****」**

**「****Shinobi****」**

**(Very high damage katana class fighter – excels in fighting larger or multiple opponents)**

– **Medium mobility | Low resistances –**

**「****Assassin****」**

**(Damage over time fighter – Very strong against single targets and exceptional stealth)**

– **High mobility | Very Low resistances – **

**「****Trickster****」**

**(Dual wielder – Unmatched mobility and uses light and shadow to manoeuvre around)**

– **Very high mobility | No resistances – **

Matt liked the look of this tree so far. He didn't fancy the Shinobi very much as he wasn't familiar with how to fight with a single-edged weapon. Still, he could learn, the medium mobility and resistances did look much nicer however than having low or no resistance at all.

The Assassin was also very appealing to him. The thought of using damage over time abilities or weapons to whittle down opponents while he only had to worry about staying safe appealed to him.

Finally, the Trickster. The dual-wielding factor sounded fun, and the very high mobility meant that he wouldn't need resistances anyway as he could just avoid all attacks thrown his way.

Next, Matt commanded the system to show him the Aura Magus tree. The rogue tree disappeared and was replaced with a new one.

**「****Aura Magus****」**

**「****Sorcerer****」****「****Summoner****」「****Force Mage****」**

**[MAGUS CLASSES CAN WEAR LIGHTWEIGHT ARMOUR****」**

**「****Sorcerer****」**

**(High damage elemental spell fighter – Sorcerers rely on dust to cast heavy-hitting spells and magic)**

– **Low mobility | Low resistances – **

**「****Summoner****」**

**(Aura based fighter – Summoners use their Aura to call forth beasts to fight for them)**

– **High mobility | Low resistances – **

**「****Force Mage ****」**

**(Single element fighter – Force mages harness their skills to one of the dust types and use that alone)**

– **Medium mobility | Medium resistances – **

Matt had one look over the Mage classes and decided the only one of real interest to him was the Summoner. He imagined himself calling on dragons, demons and other mythical beasts to fight for him, Matt almost drooled at his own imaginations. None of the other classes of Magus could compare to the idea of becoming a summoner, Matt did, however, decide to keep an open mind just in case he thought of something that he could do with the other classes. Still, right now they looked pretty limited in the Magus tree.

The final tree that Matt had a look at was the warrior tree. He figured this was going to be the tree he would like the least as he was never one for great hefty weapons or armour in the games he played, but it was better to understand everything the system had to offer.

So with the final command, for now, he asked the system to pull up the warrior tree.

**「****Warrior****」**

**「****Knight****」****「****Judicator****」「****Sentinal****」**

**「****WARRIOR CLASSES CAN WEAR HEAVY, MEDIUM AND LIGHTWEIGHT ARMOUR****」**

**「****Knight****」**

**(Sword and shield fighter – With swords and shields you will often see knights in the thick of the fight)**

– **Medium mobility | High resistances –**

**「****J****udicator****」**

**(Two-handed Tank – Judicators use Warhammers and Greataxes to rain down judgment on their foes)**

– **Low mobility | Medium resistances – **

**「****Sentinal****」**

**(Tower shield brawler – Sentinals with their proficiency in shields are a force to be reckoned with)**

– **Very low mobility | Very High resistances –**

As expected, most of the warrior tree seemed to be about pure unadulterated strength, everything about the skills in the warrior tree screamed "Hit me! I'm here", and that wasn't something Matt didn't necessarily like. The knight seemed like your standard sword and shield common soldier. That didn't particularly interest Matt that much, he just didn't like frontline fighting.

The Judicator seemed like a force to be reckoned with, Matt had been to museums in his previous life which held two-handed weapons before and their size was not something to be laughed at. Most two-handed weapons he remembered were as tall as him! He shivered at the thought of a sword his size easily cleaving him in two.

Finally, the class that had piqued his interest the most in this tree. The sentinel. How someone could fight only using a shield and nothing else Matt did not know. That was the main reason it interested him. He just couldn't comprehend only using a shield as his weapon.

Matt knew he was going to settle on one of the Rogue classes, that was without question. The problem was what he was going to do with that armour he had just picked up. If Rogues could only wear medium and light armour, he would have to dump off the chest piece. Matt resigned himself to the fact he couldn't have everything he wanted and applied all his attribute points into the Rogue tree. Specifically, the Assassin. Damage over time without having to get close just seemed too good to pass up.

Matt commanded the system to dump all seven points into the Assassin tree. Matt watched as a new notification appeared.

**「You have received item's from your Class selection」 **

**「Skillbook – Poisoned weapons」**

**「****Assassin [5/5]****」**

**「****Your Assassin skill has hit a milestone you now understand how to create poison bullets****」**

**「****Assassin [7/10]****」**

A Skillbook appeared in front of Matt as the chain of notifications ended. It was similar to the gunslinging skillbook but instead of two guns etched into the front, a conical flask was their instead. Furthermore, this Skillbook's colour was a puke green in colour, rather than the brown of the previous book. Matt put it at his side while he dealt with the last Quest.

This one was the weirdest decision. _Choose a job_

Matt figured it made sense, he did need some cover here in Remnant and Vale after all. Matt pulled up the list of employment choices again and considered what he wanted to do.

**「Sandwich & Coffee bar owner」**

**「Ramen bar owner」**

**「Italian Restaurant owner」**

As nice as being a Ramen chef would be, Matt didn't know if that was what he actually wanted to do. He enjoyed cooking and was proficient at food, but his noodle skills were par at best. An Italian chef wouldn't be a terrible choice. Pasta was fun to make, so were a variety of different salads and oven based dishes. But that would require too much consistent effort, and if he wanted to level up his skills and hold a job, he would need a much more flexible schedule.

That left him with a coffee shop. Matt shrugged to himself, he enjoyed Coffee, and it was decently easy to make (although he didn't underestimate that to make a good Coffee someone needed lots of skills to get the grinds and blends just right). Sandwiches, well they were really quite basic and easy to whip up, nothing complicated here.

With the decision being made, Matt gave his answer to the system and a dialogue boxed popped up to confirm his choice, Matt told it, yes, and the box disappeared.

**「To go to your new job, please use the teleport command」**

Matt would do that tomorrow morning, he still had stuff to do now, and he was getting quite tired if he had to be honest with himself.

A new notification popped up, this one telling him of his quest completion now.

**「You have completed your Quest: Will of steel, Heart of ice」**

**「You have received a reward: A basic life on Remnant」**

**「You have received a reward: 5 x Green key」**

**「You have received a reward: Removal of "Cold as Ice" skill」**

**「You can now find Quests in the open world」**

Matt gave the messages a once over, five dungeon keys was helpful. As was the removal of cold as ice, he somehow felt lighter now because of it (even though it hadn't affected him much in the first place. He hadn't had interaction with people. Furthermore, the last two rewards were like opened doors to Matt. Those words held so much freedom. He realized the system was right now. He had a life here. He was going to make the best of it.

Matt mentally ticked that Quest off on his list of things to do. The new weapons were the pen-ultimate thing on his agenda.

The same page as he had appeared in the dungeon popped up in front of Matt as he summoned the pistol crafting parts again. 15 slots were now filled in, and the outline of a handgun was there. Matt couldn't tell what it looked like as it was still darkened. Matt reached into his inventory and pulled out the small enchanted crystal, he flicked that into the screen, and it vanished as a neon green outline appeared around the pistol. Matt mentally told the system to confirm he wanted to craft it, and a bright light clouded his vision for a few seconds before a box popped onto the ground.

Matt lifted the boxes lid and found a package wrapped in velvet cloth. He slowly opened it up to reveal a bone-white pistol neatly placed in the centre on top of a chest holster. It was a big gun, matching the long slide handguns of Earth, it looked it could pack quite the punch. The grip was black, and he could see how smooth the slide of the gun had a sideways V carved into it, the open end towards the barrel. Contained with the pistol was a single bullet casing, he assumed the ammo type the gun used. Matt could also swear occasionally the pistol would temporarily glow green. That must have been the work of the enchanting crystal.

Matt picked up the pistol with his right hand, and the moment he did, its weight felt familiar in his hands. He knew every intricate moving part of the gun, what round it fired, its muzzle speed, how to wield it in a variety of ways. It felt perfect for him. Matt knew this was due to the pistol skillbook, and although he had never held a gun in his life, all the skills came to him as if it was quickly ejected the magazine and saw there were no bullets loaded. Matt assumed that was why the system gave him the empty casing.

Matt held it out once again in front of his face before a message popped up.

**「You have successfully crafted an item」**

**「Crescendo」**

**「Heavy pistol」**

**「Special effect – Fortissimo: The final shot from the magazine is always an explosive round」**

**「Common Enchantment effect – Phantom shot: Has a chance to not consume a bullet」**

Matt stared in awe at the gun, He was eager to test this out. Matt strapped the chest holster on and put the gun back in its place excitedly as the box disappeared from existence. Matt set his mind aside of it for now as he had one last thing to do. Matt picked up the Poisons and Toxins Skillbook and opened it up. Knowledge once again started to flow into him before he collapsed on the ground in pain. He was too tired to absorb all this information, and he hadn't realized it, as a consequence, he was now passed out on the ground, in perhaps what was his most peaceful sleep in a while…

* * *

Blake woke up to the suns warms ray shining on her face as she slowly opened her eyes. Stretching her limbs out and letting out a soft purr, Blake lay content in the sun's warmth for another half-an-hour before her hunger eventually got the best of her. She ventured into the hallway and then into the modest-sized kitchen to pour herself a small bowl of breakfast cereal. Blake would leave today. She would come back and visit Matt, but she had been intruding on his apartment, and he was kind enough to take her in temporarily. It felt wrong and Blake despite how grateful she was, still held some suspicions. No regular person would just let anyone stay with them like this.

Speaking of Matt, Blake looked around to find him nowhere in the apartment she saw an armoured chest piece against the sofa, but that was about it. She only spotted him when she stood up to investigate and saw him lying outside on the balcony. He looked sound asleep, but Blake couldn't help but feel he was probably uncomfortable on the tiled floor. Blake stepped inside and reached for a pillow before returning to Matt's sleeping form and putting it to rest under his head.

Blake sat there, watching him peacefully for a moment before standing back up and gathering her stuff to prepare for her departure.

Blake had everything she had brought with her initially. Her Scroll, Gambol Shroud and her iconic bow. She left a small note on a notepad she had found and left it sitting on the kitchen counter before she stepped out the door. Blake knew that she would run into Matt again, there was just this strange thing about him she couldn't understand. It was like he emitted a warmth that felt so good to just be around. Feeling refreshed and ready, Blake's goal was crystal clear. Set back out to hunt the White Fang, they were up to something, and she desperately needed to find out what. With a hop, step and leap, she was flying across the rooftops of Vale once again.

* * *

Matt woke up with a headache. He wasn't surprised, he had tried to absorb much more knowledge than his brain was probably able to contain after such a strenuous previous day. Matt sighed as he stood up, then looked at the pillow that wasn't there last night. He figured it might have been Blake. Matt's eye's shot open as he realized Blake might have seen him last night he quickly moved into the apartment to check how she was doing. When he gently opened the door to his room in case she was still asleep, he noticed the sheets had been folded and the bed made. She must have already left to do something, Matt concluded.

He moved to make himself some breakfast when he saw a post-it stuck to the counter, it read.

_Thanks for the help, Matt. I've been still for too long and I need to go do what I came to Vale for. We will meet again in future – Blake_

_Turn over the paper for my scroll number should you need to contact me._

Matt did as instructed and saw Blake's number written there, he made a note to put it on to his scrolls contacts later. He didn't question why Blake had run off after their pleasant discussion last night but to each their own.

Breakfast was a quiet affair for Matt, he had plans, and he was thinking. He noticed that he held a lot more knowledge and his thoughts came to him much faster than previously, that was probably his boosted intelligence stat going to work.

When Matt finished his breakfast and put his plates away, he asked the system to teleport him to his new café. A familiar white light pulled Matt in, and when he opened his eyes he found himself standing in front of an empty shopfront with a single name across the glass window

"La Rose d'argentee" Matt said to himself, it had a nice ring to it. He had no idea what it meant as he didn't speak French, but it carried a nice ring to it. Matt decided he wouldn't change its name. Looking again at the store he could see that he had a lot of work to do, there was dust all along the inside, the windows were stained, and he could see the rot in some of the old floorboards, this place was old, and he would need to put some Lien and elbow-grease in to get this place up to a functioning working coffee shop again.

Matt opened his scroll to have a look at his map to see where it was located and was pleasantly surprised to find it just one street away from Vale's main street, that meant there would be decent foot-traffic coming through this area. Matt opened the door, and already he started coming up with a plan of what he wanted this place to be in future. Yes, he would take care of this coffee shop, and he would own it with pride.

* * *

_2 Months and 68,000 Lien later_

* * *

The young owner stood outside his new coffee shop looking vastly different than he had been three months ago. He stood taller now at six foot and weighed in with 104 kilos of muscle, toned and tight he looked good enough peoples heads occasionally turned when he walked down the street. Normally a person's physique wouldn't change this much from three months of intensive training, but as he put more and more skill points Into strength and dexterity, his body had gotten better and better.

He had been training hard, his daily quest had made sure of that. He had yet to miss a single day since the very first one. He usually had many skill points he had spent, but he still remained at level 11. He hadn't gone to fight anything since the discovery of his new Coffee shop. He had put all his power and effort into fixing it up, and now it was ready.

Matt quickly checked over his stats one last time before entering just to make sure he had done everything he could before progressing with the next part of his life.

**「****Attribute points available: 0****」**

**「****Stat points available: 0****」**

**「****Health Points: 1750/1750****」**

**「****Aura Points: 850/850****」**

**「****Strength: 225****」**

**「****Constitution: 175****」**

**「****Defense: 175****」**

**「****Intelligence: 167****」**

**「****Wisdom: 170****」**

**「****Dexterity: 220****」**

**「****Tenacity: 170****」**

He tensed his arm, and he could feel the strength in him now. Nothing would take away what he had worked for in this world, he wouldn't let it.

Matt unclenched his fist and stepped towards the renovated _La Rose D'argentee. _That name was now printed onto a new frosted glass window at the storefront written in golden cursive. It added a sense of formality to the place while still holding a casual style to it.

The bell above the door chimed as he stepped inside. It had taken two months to get it to this stage, but here he was.

New dark wooden floorboards replaced the old rotten ones, Booths lined the far wall, each one lit by a single conical lamp, and the centre of the café was filled with regular tables and chairs. A large bookshelf lined up near the window provided some reading material if anyone just wanted to find something to relax to. As well as the conical table lights, moody overhead lighting provided a dim but relaxed atmosphere, an expensive speaker system played quiet Jazz around the coffees shop. A wooden counter sat near the back where behind it sat coffee machines and fridges waiting, begging to be used. Matt took a deep breath before opening his scroll and sending a text to Blake. She hadn't responded to any of his previous ones, and he was worried about her. This time instead of sending her a specific message, he just sent her the location to his new place. If she needed help, then Blake would come, Matt knew that.

Matt moved back to the door and let out a deep breath, this was uncharted water for him. He had never worked a day in his life correctly. Still, the system had supported him along the way to making this restaurant, he had learnt recipes in his apartment, determined to brew new kinds of coffee and could make the most wicked club sandwiches Vale had ever seen. He was ready.

He turned a sign that was against the door before propping it open along the warm air to pour in and on this day._ Le Rose D'argentee_ declared itself open to Vale.

* * *

_Meanwhile in Beacon…._

* * *

"From this day forth, you will be known as Team RWBY, lead by…Ruby Rose"

"I'm so proud of you!"

* * *

**There it is! I hope you all enjoyed the read, to address some things real quick**

**Forgive any spotted grammar mistakes (PM to let me know where so I can fix them, if you wish), the beta I had previously found is still helping me with the re-write and we operate in completely different timezones so it makes things difficult (I had to self check this chapter)**

**I changed the way classes worked as the old system was just garbage and a mess, so that was reworked.**

**Matt is strong based on pure numbers, but he doesn't have experience so he won't be going around slapping people like Rowan and Cinder all over the place. Besides, you guys don't even know the stats of some of the other characters are. So don't go complaining just yet **

**Blakes character change, people were kind of split about it. Some people liked her OOCness and some preferred standard Blake. Now we are into Beacon arc Blake should be acting like herself again.**

**Once again thanks for reading and If you have anything else to say, review or PM. All feedback is constructive even if it's negative.**

**Matt's updated Stats (For end of chapter)**

**「****Name: Matthew Apricitas****」**

**「****Class: Assassin [7/10]****」**

**「****Level: {11}****」**

**「****Experience Points: 220/2000****」**

**「****Attribute points available: 0****」**

**「****Stat points available: 0****」**

**「****Active abilities: None****」**

**「****Passive abilities: Aura boost, Vital Strike, Vanish, Scholar, One-handed gunslinging, Poison and Toxicity****」**

**「****Attribute points available: 0****」**

**「****Stat points available: 0****」**

**「****Health Points: 1750/1750****」**

**「****Aura Points: 850/850****」**

**「****Strength: 225****」**

**「****Constitution: 175****」**

**「****Defense: 175****」**

**「****Intelligence: 167****」**

**「****Wisdom: 170****」**

**「****Dexterity: 220****」**

**「****Tenacity: 170****」**

**[****Items**」

「**Travellers Map – A minimap that uncovers areas as you explore them**」

「**Armour Blueprints – used to construct one piece of armour provided you own the components**」

「**House key – Key to apartment 626 in Vale heights**」

「**Restaurant key – Key to Le Rose d'argentee **」

「**Obsidian dagger – A dagger made from some of the darkest metal**」

「**Crescendo – A Handgun that packs quite an "explosive" puch**」

「**Steel knight armour x1 – A steel chest piece that will protect you from most blows**」

「**Green key x7 – Open common tier dungeons**」

「**Pistol components x17 – Parts of a pistol; collect 15 to assemble the weapon**」

「**Minor HP Potions x132 – Restores 10 HP and 20 AP**」

「**12,438 Lien – Remnants common currency**」


End file.
